By MATT WEITZ / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

It's kind of odd when you think about the way in which things that were once unique now stand for a whole movement in taste and appreciation. Ladysmith Black Mambazo was once one of a few signature African pop groups, rubbing elbows with the likes of King Sunny Ade.

To Westerners it may have seemed as if there was little difference between these kinds of music, but the longevity of LBM makes the group a favorite.

Tuesday night at its TITAS performance at Southern Methodist University's McFarlin Auditorium, the eight-man a cappella group showed about 1,800 fans that it has lost little of its vocal chops.

"Awu Wemadoda," the first song of the evening, paid tribute not only to the traditional song structures of Zulu music but also to the expectations of an audience raised on the world-music accents made famous by artists like Peter Gabriel.

The breathy enunciation and sibilant harmonies showed that the men were utterly comfortable in their own skins, yet still foreign to the audience.

They proved this when they tried to get an audience member to sing with them and introduced him to the series of clicks that make up their native tongue.

The group's latest album, Long Walk to Freedom, was well-represented by the title track and another tune, "Hello My Baby."

Throughout the show, the message seemed to be the cleansing effect of political and artistic action.

The South African group was cool when Paul Simon turned us on to it via 1986's Graceland, and, with songs such as "Phalamende" and "Nginethemba," the singers proved that music doesn't necessarily need oppression to sound wonderful.

LBM has a rich, breathy sound that transmits struggle, fortitude and courage to listeners.

Tuesday night, the layered beauty of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's delivery transcended even the most pointed political concerns.