leader, Joseph Shabalala, who has died aged 78, knew that his legacy would live on: Ladysmith Black
Mambazo have continued to tour the world since Shabalala retired six years ago and four of his sons are
members of the current ensemble.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo first achieved international attention when the American singer and songwriter
Paul Simon employed them on his hugely successful 1986 album Graceland and subsequent world tour.
Paradoxically, because Simon visited South Africa to meet Shabalala (and other African musicians) – so
breaking the cultural boycott – he faced vocal criticism from anti-apartheid campaigners. Shabalala himself
said that, by breaking the boycott, Simon had helped black South Africans in their struggle.
Joseph Shabalala was born Bhekizizwe Joseph Siphatimandla Mxoveni Mshengu Bigboy Shabalala, the
eldest of Joseph and Namandla’s eight children. He grew up on a farm outside the town of Ladysmith (in the
province of KwaZulu-Natal). His father’s death when he was 12 forced Shabalala to leave school and go to
work on the farm.
Shifting to Durban in 1958 to work in factories, Shabalala began singing in choirs and vocal groups. In 1960
he formed a choir and they began singing isicathamiya music – the Zulu acapella tradition – at local
weddings and entering competitions. By 1964 Shabalala’s choir was considered the best in the region and,
after a series of dreams, he came upon the name of Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
Over the decades Shabalala softened the choir’s sound, ensuring they sang in English rather than isiZulu,
yet always ensuring they delivered superb performances
The choir, who performed athletic dance moves as they sang, gained great popularity among Zulus and, as
word spread, they began attracting interest from white South Africans. Signed to Gallo Records in 1972,
their debut album Amabutho achieved gold sales – the first black South African artists ever to achieve such.
Such was Ladysmith’s success the apartheid government sent them to West Germany in 1981 and 1982 to
perform at folk music festivals. Paul Simon, upon hearing tapes of South African Zulu music in 1984, felt
inspired to travel to Johannesburg. There he met the local musicians and, via a series of loose rehearsals,
began developing the songs that would become Graceland.
Simon was especially impressed by Shabalala, who flew to London to participate in Graceland’s recording
sessions, and received publishing credits on two of its songs (“Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” and
“Homeless”).
Graceland’s phenomenal success (selling some 16 million copies) rejuvenated Simon’s career and he toured
the world with Ladysmith Black Mambazo, then produced their 1987 album Shaka Zulu on Warner
Brothers. This album won the choir the first of their five Grammy awards and they quickly became
internationally famous – appearing in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker film, accompanying Nelson Mandela
to Oslo when he was presented with the Nobel Peace Prize, singing with Dolly Parton, appearing on the
soundtrack of The Lion King and providing the vocal accompaniment to a series of Heinz baked beans TV
advertisements in the UK (which helped to sell more than 100,000 copies of a compilation CD). Over the
decades Shabalala softened the choir’s sound, ensuring they sang in English rather than isiZulu, yet always
ensuring they delivered superb performances.