For more than thirty years, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has married the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. The result is a musical and spiritual alchemy that has touched a worldwide audience representing every corner of the religious, cultural and ethnic landscape.

Assembled in the early 1960s in South Africa by Joseph Shabalala – then a young farmboy turned factory worker – the group initially called themselves the Blacks, an a cappella collective that knocked out all opponents in every singing competition they entered. They later took the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Ladysmith being the name of Shabalala’s rural hometown; Black being a reference to oxen, the strongest of all farm animals; and Mambazo being the Zulu word for axe, a symbol of the group’s ability to chop down any rival who might challenge them. Their collective voices were so tight and their harmonies so polished that they were eventually banned from competitions – although they were welcome to participate strictly as entertainers.

Shabalala says his conversion to Christianity in the '60s helped define the group’s musical identity. The path that the axe was chopping suddenly had a direction: “To bring this gospel of loving one another all over the world,” he says. However, he’s quick to point out that the message is not specific to any one religious orientation. “Without hearing the lyrics, this music gets into the blood, because it comes from the blood,” he says. “It evokes enthusiasm and excitement, regardless of what you follow spiritually.”

A radio broadcast in 1970 opened the door to their first record contract – the beginning of an ambitious discography that currently includes more than forty recordings. Their philosophy in the studio was – and continues to be – just as much about preservation of musical heritage as it is about entertainment. The group borrows heavily from a traditional music called isicathamiya (is-cot-a-ME-Ya), which developed in the mines of South Africa, where black workers were taken by rail to work far away from their homes and their families. Poorly housed and paid worse, the mine workers would entertain themselves after a six-day week by singing songs into the wee hours Sunday morning. When the miners returned to the homelands, this musical tradition returned with them.

In the mid-1980s, Paul Simon visited South Africa and incorporated Ladysmith’s rich tenor/alto/bass harmonies into his Graceland album – a landmark 1986 recording that is considered seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences. A year later, Simon produced Ladysmith’s first U.S. release, Shaka Zulu, which won a Grammy in 1987 for Best Traditional Folk Album. Since then, the group has scored six more Grammy nominations, most recently for their 1999 album, Live from Royal Albert Hall.

In addition to their work with Simon, Ladysmith has recorded with numerous artists from around the world, including Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, The Wynans, Julia Fordham, George Clinton, Russell Watson and Ben Harper. Their film work includes a featured appearance in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker video and Spike Lee’s Do It A Cappella. Ladysmith provided soundtrack material for Disney’s The Lion King, Part II as well as Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America, Marlon Brando’s A Dry White Season, and James Earl Jones’ Cry The Beloved Country. Their performance with Paul Simon on Sesame Street is legendary; their appearance is one of the top three requested Sesame Street segments in history.

Ladysmith has been invited to perform at many special occasions. By special invitation from South African President Nelson Mandela, they performed for the Queen of England and the Royal Family at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The group has also performed at two Nobel Peace Prize Ceremonies, a recent concert for the Pope in Rome, South African Presidential inaugurations, the 1996 Summer Olympics, a Muhammad Ali television special, music award shows from around the world, and many other special events. In the summer of 2002, Mambazo was again asked to represent their nation in London at a celebration for Queen Elizabeth’s 50th Anniversary as Monarch.

Amid the extensive worldwide touring, the ambitious recording schedule and the numerous accomplishments and accolades, tragedy struck the group in 2002 when Nellie Shabalala, Joseph’s wife of thirty years, was murdered by a masked gunman outside their church in South Africa. To date, the identity of the assailant has not been determined and no conviction has been made.

“At the time that this happened, I tried to take my mind deep into the spirit, because I know the truth is there,” Shabalala recalls. “In my flesh, I might be angry, I might cry, I might suspect somebody. But when I took my mind into the spirit, the spirit told me to be calm and not to worry. Bad things happen, and the only thing to do is raise your spirit higher.”

Out of this dark chapter comes Raise Your Spirit Higher - Wenyukela, a brilliant new recording on Heads Up International, scheduled for release in January 2004. In English, the word Wenyukela means “raise your spirit higher,” and the album is Shabalala’s message of hope and unity to a troubled world.

“When the world looks at you and finds the tears in your eyes,” he says, “but you smile in spite of the tears, then they discover that, ‘Oh, he’s right when he says you must be strong, because many things have happened to him, and he still carries on with the spirit of the music.’”