Recently I was talking with a friend about music an I started showing her cool stuff and realized I would quickly overwhelm ANYONE with all the music I think is cool, so I decided to start doing music reviews on here again. So here we go.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo is an a cappella group from South Africa. It was started in 1960 by Joseph Shabalala. I’m only going to give a few details here because The University of British Columbia did a wonderful article about them.
There’s a lot of culture and history and tragedy rolled into both the group and the music style itself. The styles of music they sing are isicathamiya and mbube, and they’re not unique to South Africa. Groups from all over Africa sing this way, and there are many competitions for them. LBM won so many they were politely asked to stop competing, so that other groups could have a chance to win.
Joseph’s brother and wife were both murdered during his time in the group. His brother was killed by a white security guard in what was considered a racial killing. His son was tried and acquitted for murdering Nellie, Joseph’s wife.
So much of what was going on in Africa, South Africa, and in their own lives is deep in the songs. Here are some great examples, but don’t forget to read about their collaboration with Paul Simon!
