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African rhythms set men's chorus apart
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Palm Beach Post, African rhythms set men's chorus apart >>
Forty albums in 30 years; 6 million copies sold.
The statistics belong to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the No. 1 record-selling group in Africa.
Of its nine Grammy nominations, the men's chorus has taken two top awards home to South Africa, including the Best Traditional World Music Album, bestowed last month for Raise Your Spirit Higher.
"It's wonderful! I was so confident when I heard we were nominated," says Albert Mazibuko, 57, before a performance in Traverse City, Mich. "But when it happened, I was so happy!"
Founded and directed by Joseph Shabalala, the popular men's a cappella group introduced the world to the rich harmonies and even richer messages of traditional Zulu singing. But Ladysmith also brought the larger World Music genre into the mainstream. The distinctive, gentle voices and close harmonies are heard regularly in film soundtracks — from Eddie Murphy's Coming To America to Disney's The Lion King, Part II — and the unforgettable TV commercial for Lifesavers candy.
Ladysmith is on the move again, coming to Stuart's Lyric Theatre Tuesday with a program of song, dance and humor. It might even include the group's justly famous Homeless, co-written by Shabalala and pop singer Paul Simon. The show is part of a four-month U.S. tour that includes New York City's Town Hall next month. With its gospel-like, call-and-response singing, the group — made up mostly of relatives — celebrates and updates African culture as well as the 64-year-old Shabalala's messages of peace, love and harmony.
Even as they move from success to success, Mambazo members carry with them vivid memories of the group's early struggles. Mazibuko tells a haunting, yet inspiring story about the group's difficult beginnings, about field hands and factory workers who rehearsed constantly, suffered hardships and lost wages until their first big break — an African radio broadcast of their singing in 1970 resulted in a recording contract.
The group's fame spread internationally in 1986 after Simon recorded their singing — including Homeless — on his Graceland album. Simon then produced Ladysmith's first U.S. recording, the Grammy winning Shaka Zulu (1987).
Before that, a full-time career in music was out of the question, says Mazibuko, a chorus member for 34 years.
"No, I didn't plan to sing; it was something that never came to my mind," says Mazibuko, a cousin of Shabalala. "But I fell in love with the music at 9 years old, so I started my own group."
The boys, ages 7 to 14, were all farm hands in Ladysmith. Under Mazibuko's encouragement, the chorus regularly won the local singing competitions in now-famous style of isicathamiya (is-cot-a-ME-ya), the gentle, quiet "tip-toe" singing. That is, until Shabalala and his group showed up.
"They sang so beautifully!" recalls Mazibuko. "I told my group, 'This is my last day to sing!' "
He didn't, until a dream come true: Shabalala recruited him years later, in 1969, for a second group. Shabalala's experimental singing techniques and his focus on original songs were very unusual at the time. But Mazibuko trusted his cousin, whose incredible results had already changed his life so dramatically.
Just a week after the new group started, says Mazibuko, it won its first competition.
It was vindication for Shabalala's progressive style and the determination of his new singers. They kept the original group name though, reinforcing its meaning: "Ladysmith" for Shabalala's rural hometown; "Black" for oxen, the strongest of the farm animals; "Mambazo," the Zulu word for ax, which could "cut down" all other singing rivals.
Even though men's choruses are as old as the hills, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has expanded the meaning, just as it still experiments and expands its own distinctive sound and repertory.
Raise Your Spirits High, the 2004 Grammy winner, is closer to gospel style, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of apartheid's end in South Africa. From gospel, the singers leaped into classical music with orchestra in the 2005 No Boundaries. Hymns and songs, sung in English and Zulu, are backed by the English Chamber Orchestra strings.
But the men also sing beautifully tailored African versions of Mozart, Schubert and Bach. Though unfamiliar with these legends of European music, Mazibuko loves the songs — especially Bach's Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring.
"I said 'Wow! This is a great song!' " Mazibuko exclaims. "It's very difficult to sing, but it's a great song."
Until a chorus-and-orchestra tour comes about, the men will communicate directly with their audiences in the lovely a cappella that has served them for more than three decades.
Ladysmith won't be accompanied by instruments at the Lyric, says Mazibuko: "Not even one! But we have our 'natural' instruments!"
LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO — 8 p.m. Tuesday, Lyric Theatre, Stuart. Tickets: $45. Phone: (772) 286-7827. Visit www.lyrictheatre.com 03/25/05 >> go there
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