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CD Review
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Audiophile Audition, CD Review >>
Ladysmith Black Mambazo (LBM) is a unique a cappella male choir from the Republic of South Africa Zulu ethnic/tribal group. All 12 songs in this recording are originals by Joseph Shabalala, the lead singer and also the artist who founded this group in 1960; 8 songs are in Zulu and 4 in English or a mix of Zulu and English. Music and singing in Zululand is highly regarded and as such enables the communication of emotion and situations which could not be easily explained in any other form. This is an accepted and polite manner amongst Zulu to convey inner feelings whatever they might be; a good example is Track 11, Prince of Peace.
All these songs irrespective of the language create a musical tapestry woven mainly from a quiet more contemplative passage to reach explosive intensity in time through rapid antiphonal exchanges, a traditional Zulu tribal custom. In tribal custom this is music and dialog (the words) is meant to be listened to and not to dance. LBM conform to a most traditional type of singing called Isicathamiya which is characterized by extremes of mood tempo and volume while slow, gentle verses shift suddenly without warning to flights of thunderous intensity. These types of songs are one of the most important tribal elements for the oral transmission of their cultural history and ancient mythology; traditionally these songs are sung by all-male choirs.
All songs in this recording have the same basic Isicathamiya structure and are dedicated to Shaka Zulu, their great hero.In the late 1700s he became their nation builder (rather, their empire builder) - a great warrior and visionary who ruled with much wisdom and showed with example the necessity for perseverance, creativity and pride; LBM’s songs in this recording attempt to do just that. The adjective Isicathamiya derives from the Zulu language verb Cathama – walking softly or tip toeing; the general idea is to achieve a harmoniums blend between the voices – voices of gentleness and peace. LBM’s moods are always reminiscent of ancient tribal customs; they invariably create an atmosphere of magical radiance, sublime peace and safety amongst friends. None of these songs are in the also traditional Mbube style (literally lion); the essence of these songs is wisdom, love and peace among all and not war…make love, not war! The singing is solemn and deeply introspective in every piece, each of them characterized by magnificent thematic segments, which in an unusual manner fade into a momentary silence at just the point where we expect a dramatic ascent of intensity and thunderous volume, which will eventually occur but not exactly when we expect it.
Zulu music and singing incorporates rhythm, melody and harmony with voices, and classic syncopation with hand clapping, foot stomping, guttural noises and Zulu’s ubiquitous !Kliks (best example on Track 6 beginning at 2:10); this is what makes Zulu traditional musical structure. It’s very interesting to note that in the case of the SACD’s surround sound also the voices, by changing and moving rapidly between the different speakers also give the feeling of added syncopation; this is a great and novel way to use “moving” surround sound and speaks highly of this recording’s final production. The a cappella singing combined with the alternating antiphonal voice effects bring out subtle nuances and depths to the music, an ocean of resonance and joyous exclamations and hushed, reverent invocation. The accompanying booklet has the words for all the songs in their respective languages: Zulu and English. There are no translations for Zulu songs although a basic idea or concept for each song is written in English.
The SACD version fully captures some heard-to-be-believed incredibly wide dynamics from a seemingly counter tenor voice to a basso-profundo, which I can clearly hear alternatively on my subwoofer and/or any of the four main speakers - each one goes down to about 35 Hz. The stereo CD when compared to the multichannel SACD version gives far less dynamic power and expression to the voices; neither version has spatial acoustics in the proverbial sense, singers obviously sing directly into their microphones. In the SACD version the lead vocals are always in the virtual front space; in general, the rear and subwoofer speakers provide the medium for the antiphonal voice effects to be heard. In a sense all active six speakers are just that, discrete channels for voices or combination of voices; best track to hear this effect is number 5. This SACD is the best vocal multichannel production I ever heard with Tracks 8 and 11 in my mind being the best of all. Indeed, this SACD goes next to my best-ever instrumental multichannel production: J.S. Bach/E. Power Biggs - The Four Great Toccatas & Fugues…Sony SS 87983 (reviewed on May 2003).
- by John Nemaric 01/22/08 >> go there
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