"Our music was inspirational and gave people hope," said Ladysmith member Albert Mazibuko from his home located around 100 miles from Durban. Mazibuko, who joined this 10-member vocal group in 1969, was part of that musical effort against apartheid.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo continues to perform in post-apartheid South Africa and on extensive international tours.

"The style of singing hasn't changed, but the compositions change with the times. We sing about everything that happens to real people," Mazibuko said.

He added that the audience for the upcoming concert in Columbia will hear "traditional songs and new compositions promoting forgiveness and peace, because South Africa is celebrating 10 years of democracy."

The traditional style of dance and music embodied by Ladysmith Black Mambazo is known as isicathamiya. It began in South African mines, when some of those workers quietly would perform dance steps in order not to bother the mine camps' security guards.

These dancers became known as "tiptoe guys." Besides their dancing, their singing was notable for its a cappella harmony. Once they left the mines and returned to their hometowns, they took this musical style with them. They instituted competitions in YMCA and church halls, with winners often being awarded a goat.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo owes its origins to Joseph Shabalala, who had a factory job in Durban in the mid-1950s. When he returned to his hometown of Ladysmith, he started musical groups there in the 1960s. His brothers and cousins were the core of the group known as Ladysmith Black Mambazo.

The name may seem enigmatic to many Americans, but makes perfect sense to South Africans. "Ladysmith" is for Shabalala's hometown, while "Black" represents the black oxen that are considered the most powerful on a farm and "Mambazo" is Zulu for "ax," suggesting the group's ability to cut down the competition.

Politics and record sales

This long-lived group's activities during and since apartheid naturally resulted in a close connection to the inspirational South African leader Nelson Mandela. Ladysmith accompanied future president Mandela and then-president F.W. de Klerk to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 1993; and Ladysmith sang at Mandela's inauguration in 1994.

The group's reputation in South Africa really took off when a 1970 radio broadcast resulted in its first record contract, and there have been over 40 albums since then.

International audiences subsequently discovered the group after American musician Paul Simon went to South Africa, met Joseph Shabalala and the other members of Ladysmith in a Johannesburg recording studio, and produced the "Graceland" album that became an instant landmark in the world music movement.

Simon went on to produce Ladysmith's first album released in the United States, "Shaka Zulu," which won a Grammy Award in 1987 for best traditional folk album. Ladysmith has received six additional Grammy nominations since then.

Its musical activities have included recording with Stevie Wonder, George Clinton, the Wynans, and Dolly Parton; appearing in Michael Jackson's video "Moonwalker"; and recording soundtrack material for the movies "Coming to America," "A Dry White Season" and "Cry the Beloved Country."

Ladysmith's accomplishments are noted in the documentary film "On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps to Freedom," which was nominated for an Academy Award for best short documentary film in 2001.

If Ladysmith is a vintage musical group, the guest vocalist for this tour, Vusi Mahlasela, is a relative youngster. Born near Pretoria in 1965, he first learned to play on a homemade guitar made of tin cans and fishing line. A singer and songwriter since his teens, Mahlasela has an eclectic style incorporating traditional African music, folk, rock and reggae.

Influenced by fellow South African performer Miriam Makeba and the late Chilean performer Victor Jara, he is a culturally progressive musician. In that regard, in 1981 he joined a group of poets, musicians and actors known as the Ancestors of Africa.

His first record, "When You Come Back," was released in 1991. This helped launch him on a career that has included performing at Mandela's 1994 inauguration; being a guest on South African native Dave Matthews' CD "Everyday" in 2000; and being featured in the film and accompanying CD "Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony" in 2002.

Tickets for the concert by Ladysmith Black Mambzo and Vusi Mahlasela are $40, $35 and $30. Call 800-955-5566 or go online to www.tickets.com.