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Ladysmith Black bring mbube to town
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Daily News, Ladysmith Black bring mbube to town >>
The music of South African Zulu choral singers Ladysmith Black Mambazo are the highly evolved result of a tangled relay race of influences stretching back and forth across the Atlantic Ocean.
Their style was once called "mbube," and drew roots from both 19th century African-American jubilee music and the fierce men's singing competitions that took place in South African mining hostels.
Throughout the 20th century, the distinctive mbube sound propelled novelty songs to the top of radio charts. "Mbube" was the title of a 1939 song by Solomon Linda that was recreated as "Wimoweh" by the Weavers in 1950 and as "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the Tokens in 1961.
Mbube also continued to grow in Africa as a folk-singing style, taking on a shouting tone in the 1940s, and then a velvety one pioneered by the King Star Brothers in the 1960s.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo represent a blend of these eclectic traditions, and their 1987 album "Shaka Zulu" incorporates both Zulu and English lyrics.
The 10-man group takes its name from three pieces of its African identity: Ladysmith is the hometown where the group formed in 1964, black is the color of the oxen Zulus consider the strongest farm animal, and mambazo is Zulu for ax, symbolizing the group's ability to chop down the competition.
The group is featured on the soundtrack of Disney's "The Lion King," and on Paul Simon's 1986 Grammy-winning "Graceland" album, and has worked with numerous internationally recognized musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, George Clinton and Ben Harper.
This year's release, "No Boundaries," embraces the liturgical roots of Western choral music and, along with African songs, includes venerated classics, some of which date back centuries, such as "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," "Sanctus," "Ave Verum Corpus," "Amazing Grace" and "Dona Nobis Pacem."
Joseph Shabalala, the group's founder and gentle visionary, seeks to spread a message of knowledge of one's own culture and appreciation of the cultures of others, he said in interview last year:
"Like in my mind I have only one thing I think is very important, to teach the people who were away for so long from their culture.
"They forgot even how to plow, how to drive the oxen.... But we need one another, that experience of doing things together, black and white, Indians and colored... Forget about Zululand, forget about Xhosaland. I sing Zulu songs, I sing Xhosa songs, German, a little bit of English, trying to show people, 'Let's come together and work together. We have only one father, he wants to see us together. That's all.'"
Ladysmith Black Mambazo appear Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Byham Theater in Pittsburgh. Seats are $23 and $33; students may purchase up to two tickets with valid ID for $10 each, and seniors receive $5 off all seats.
Tickets are available at the Box Office at Theater Square, online at www.pgharts.org, and by calling 412-456-6666. For special group discounts, call 412-471-6930.
For more information on the group, or to learn how to say "I love these guys" in Zulu, visit www.mambazo.com.
-Celanie Polanick 04/08/05 >> go there
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