Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Joseph Shabalala launched Ladysmith Black Mambazo in the 1960s as a Grammy-honored vocal ensemble based in South Africa. The collective concentrates on isicathamiya, a Zulu a cappella form centered on intricate harmonies and descended from mbube, reaching mainstream listeners worldwide after Paul Simon included them on his 1986 album Graceland. Once they appeared alongside Simon during the 1987 Graceland tour, the singers established themselves as consistent main attractions across global concert routes.

Shabalala came into the world in 1941 as one of eight children in a household residing on a farm near the South African town of Ladysmith. As the eldest son, Joseph shouldered care for his relatives following his father’s death and later accepted factory employment.

Beyond occasional guitar experiments, Shabalala’s earliest musical involvement occurred with the choral ensemble called the Blacks. He gradually assumed leadership and took on the role of chief songwriter. The Blacks captured most local vocal contests and emerged as the foremost Zulu singing group, yet Shabalala perceived an incompleteness. “I had been hearing a voice inside me,” he said. “I didn’t know it, but it was the voice of God.” He converted to Christianity soon afterward. Merging the choral repertoire encountered in church services with assorted Zulu practices seldom joined together, he shaped a personal idiom.

After the Blacks declined to join Shabalala’s innovations, he assembled Ladysmith Black Mambazo, comprising seven bass voices, an alto, a tenor, and Shabalala on lead. A contract with Gallo Record Company yielded their debut recording, Amabutho, in 1973. The ensemble then issued albums at an intense pace, amassing an extensive catalog of vocal material.

Following Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s contribution to the wide-ranging stylistic palette of Simon’s international hit Graceland and their participation in the ensuing tour, Simon oversaw a trio of Warner Bros. projects for the group. Shaka Zulu appeared in 1987 and captured the Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Recording. Journey of Dreams arrived the next year in 1988, followed by Two Worlds One Heart in 1990. Additional releases continued through other labels, among them Gallo, while Shanachie presented two retrospective collections, one of which was 1992’s Best of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Wrasse issued the 2000 anthology In Harmony. The ensemble earned a further Grammy for 2004’s Raise Your Spirit Higher, this time in the Best Traditional World Music Album category, and Headsup Records released No Boundaries in 2005, featuring the English Chamber Orchestra. Ilembe: Honoring Shaka Zulu surfaced in South Africa during 2007, with the American pressing following in 2008. That album received the Grammy for Best Traditional World Music Album, and Live: Singing for Peace Around the World secured the Best World Music Album Grammy in 2013.

By 2017 the roster included four of Joseph Shabalala’s sons, each of whom had performed with the ensemble for more than twenty years, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo issued Songs of Peace & Love for Kids & Parents Around the World. Joseph Shabalala passed away in Pretoria, South Africa on February 11, 2020.