When Ladysmith Black Mambazo were first noticed by listeners around the world through their collaboration with Paul Simon on the Graceland album in 1986 (they still perform “Homeless” when on the road, and a reworked version appears on their latest album, “No Boundaries”), the acapella vocal group from South Africa had been around for nearly twenty years.

The group began in 1964 after Joseph Shabalala had failed numerous attempts of expressing himself through music. “I felt there was something missing,” he declared on the group’s official biography. “I tried to teach the music that I felt, but I failed, until 1964 when a dream came to me. I always hear the harmony from that dream and I said ‘This is the harmony that I want and I can teach it to my guys.’”

The name “Ladysmith Black Mambazo” is a combination of three references. Ladysmith is the Shabalala family hometown, where the group had its beginnings. “Black” is a reference to the black oxen, and “mambazo” means “ax,” a joke made from the fact that they would always “chop down” other groups at music competitions.

He then recruited members of his immediate family and a few close friends and the group began participating in local musical events. A recording contract eventually cmae in 1970, and after having been “discovered” by Paul Simon, they have performed in stages around the world, and also provided their music for the soundtrack of the Disney cartoon Lion King.

On their latest album (released last January), the group takes a new challenge by combining their isicathamiya (a Zulu word meaning “to tiptoe”) singing with the likes of Mozart, Schubert and Bach paired with the sounds of the English Chamber Orchestra, a project that came together with the help of Isak Roux, a South African-born German pianist who had an interest in exploring African music in a classic European contest. The result is a CD in which the orchestra and the vocalists keep their traditions and meet more than halfway, as can be heard on their rendition of Bach’s “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring.”

The last time Ladysmith Black Mambazo appeared in New York, the performed a free concert to a sweaty summer crowd outside the World Financial Center, amusing the audience with their dances and vocal harmonies. In a memorable moment, Joseph Shabalala taught the audience the chorus for one of their Zulu-language songs, and the response was so positive that he commented, “wow, you can really sing in Zulu!”

Town Hall, Sunday, April 10^th. Showtime is 7pm. Tickes at $45, $35, and $25. 123 W 43^rd St in New York, NY. For more information and tickets call 212-545-7536 or visit www.heartheworld.org

-Ernest Barteldes