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Joseph's techinicolour dream
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Daily News, Joseph's techinicolour dream >>
It's been a long time coming - 15 years a dream - but Ladysmith Black Mambazo might well have a cause for celebration very soon - the Ladysmith Black Mambazo Academy of South African Music and Culture.
"It's wonderful to have two Grammy awards," commented the group's leader, Joseph Shabalala, in Durban, where the group's second Grammy award, received earlier this year, was being celebrated.
And, of course, raking in all those dollars, as SA bands who make it on the international circuit tend to do, is a boon as well.
Shabalala is the first to ad-mit that he and his fellow Ladysmith Black Mambazo members have done very nicely over the past 20 years. He always laughs when questioned about his "lifestyle of the rich and famous" pad out in Kloof.
"It's wonderful, but I hardly have any time there. still, my family enjoy it."
But, if Shabalala could get his dream off the ground - his academy where traditional South African music, in particular isicathamiya, will be taught - he would give up both those Grammies and the perfect Kloof pad, for as he says, "sharing our traditional songs with the world means more to me than a million rand - material things mean very little to me".
To this end, after too many years of promises, the genial superstar is finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel as far as his academy is concerned.
Much of this is down to Ladysmith's Chief of Protec-tion Services and Licensing, Koos Breedt. Breedt has had a dream similar to Shabalala's for some time, but on an even grander scale.
"Joseph's dream is very much alive and kicking," Breedt told the Daily News.
"Maybe it's not kicking up a lot of dust as yet, but we are now much further than we were six years ago."
Breedt knew of Shabalala's search for land where he could establish his academy.
"Of course we, as a public body, can't just give away land," says Breedt.
"With South Africa's transformation in mind, we'd been working on ideas where the Midlands could feature what's best about South Africa, both for locals and tourists."
Hence, a 36 hectare piece of land bought to establish a petrol station on the N11 is on its way to becoming a Zulu cultural village with a market square and an arts and crafts market, and - drum roll for Joseph Shabalala at last - that previously elusive Ladysmith Black Mambazo Academy of South African Music and Culture.
"There will be a living mus-eum - tourists on the battlefields route will be able to see how people lived 200 years ago and the academy where traditional music will be taught and Ladysmith Black Mambazo will, of course, hold concerts."
Breedt contacted Shabalala 18 months ago. Shabalala said he was definitely still dreaming of his academy.
Now, having already received R1.8 million of Lotto money towards the traditional village and having donated the land for the academy to Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the rea-lity of the bricks and mortar rests on a viability study, which is going ahead, and money - of course.
"We just need funding and we can go ahead with the academy," says Breedt. "that's where we stand at the moment, and things are looking good."
"Joseph's US management team have already indicated that they would be prepared to contribute if local funding comes in and Gallo, (Ladysmith Black Mambazo's record label) have also shown an interest."
The complex will be called Uvemvane, which means butterfly.
Breedt explains the conno-tation: "in years gone by, because of apartheid, South Africa was regarded as the worm of this continent. We were isolated in a cocoon.
Now, with democracy, we have become a beautiful butterfly!"
"Uvemvane will be a place where cultures meet, a cultural focal point in KZN's Midlands. Hopefully, it's no longer a dream."
-Sally Scott 05/02/05 >> go there
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