Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Dirty Linen

This is an excerpt from the print edition of Dirty Linen #136 (June/July 2008).
The full article is in the magazine, available on newsstands, by subscription, and at the Dirty Linen webstore.

Peace and Harmony

by Tom Nelligan

Voices in close harmony are a common sound in the world's musical traditions, but few traditional groups have ever harmonized so richly as the South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The unaccompanied music, mostly in the Zulu language, is based on a striking blend of men's voices that rise and fall in velvety balance, punctuated by perfectly synchronized dance steps that include some high kicking that would make the Rockettes envious. The songs speak of the universal themes of peace, hope, and faith, as well as cultural history and pride, presented in concerts that are filled with a sense of brotherhood and joy. With more than 50 albums, two Grammy awards, and a dozen more Grammy nominations, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has arguably become Africa's best-known and most successful singing group ever. Even more profoundly, the group has become a cultural symbol as witnesses to the historic changes in an evolving country undertaking a landmark transition to democracy.

The founder and leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo is singer, composer, and arranger Joseph Shabalala, who was born in 1941 in the town of Ladysmith in the KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa. He sang for fun as a boy, and as a teenager he left his parents' farm and moved in search of factory work to nearby Durban, where he soon began singing with a group called the Durban Choir. In 1960, he discovered the Highlanders, a group that sang Zulu music under the direction of Galiyane Hlatshwayo, a man who helped shape Shabalala's vocal style and inspired him to form a singing group of his own.

The style that Ladysmith Black Mambazo would make famous is called isicathamiya, which comes from a term for "stepping softly." It is a rhythmic, harmonious call-and-response, a cappella style that traces its roots to homesick Zulu coal miners who adapted their traditional songs and dances to the harsh living conditions they faced in the rigidly segregated South Africa of the early 20th century. Isicathamiya is based on close harmonies, volume that rises and falls from soft to loud and back again, and intricate, expressive choreography that often involves dancing on tiptoe. It is closely related to the style called mbube, the South African musical form named for the 1930s Solomon Linda song that was the basis for the Weavers' American hit "Wimoweh."

"The music was born in the mines," explained Albert Mazibuko, one of Mambazo's original members, before a recent concert in Cambridge, Massachusetts. "Our fathers, when they were taken away from their homes, when they missed home, they got together on their free days and they tried to sing the same music that they used to sing at home. In fact, most of the music that they were singing is wedding songs; if you are listening to the isicathamiya music, the tune that they use the most is wedding songs. So those are happy songs; they try and continue the happy music. But they find out there are some voices missing because there are no women, no young boys, no young girls. So some of them try to sing the high voices. But our singing is not complete until you dance. So our dancing is stomping dancing, stomping the floor very hard! It is traditional. For you to be a better dancer, you have to stomp harder than the other ones! It is judged by the sound when you stomp."

[cover #136]