From Ladysmith to Big D

Although I really love nice a cappella harmonies, there are really only a couple of a cappella groups I’ve longed to see live. One is the aggregate known as the “Mysterious Voices of Bulgaria,” but there are so many variations, I doubt I’d ever hear the otherworldly sounds captured on the Nonesuch albums (Le Voix Mystere du Bulgare) years ago. If there is a group of a cappella Bulgarian ladies singing live on tour, it probably won’t ever make it to Dallas. But Ladysmith Black Mambazo floated into town last Sunday night, and my wife and I went to the show.

And what a treat it was. The nine-man group led by Joseph Shabalala for over forty years (fifty-two years if you count the group he started in 1960 that morphed into Ladysmith Black Mambazo) includes four Shabalala sons, one destined to take Joseph’s place if the old man ever retires. He’s still pretty spry, and joins in the African-style choreography, and even in the occasional interludes of trade-off showdown moves each member gyrates through. Here’s a video of the current group, performing a song from their latest album, Songs from a Zulu Farm:

The visual show is impressive, with synchronized moves that would seem military if they weren’t so fluid. But the vocals are ethereal, and they filled the big hall (The Viola Winspear Opera House) with reverberating sound. The eight back-up singers kept up their repeated vocal riffs as the soloist (usually but not always Joseph Shabalala) trilled and swooped and crooned. My wife’s not a fan, but she accompanied me, and we sat in the ultra-cheap seats, way up in the stratosphere. She was entertained; I was enthralled. And, feeling guilty about buying a $65 sweatshirt at a Steely Dan concert we went to recently (no, she didn’t get “a Steely Dan t-shirt”), she urged me to buy a Ladysmith Black Mambazo t-shirt.

What a great story that this group of South African singers got the chance to collaborate with Paul Simon in the eighties, after decades of singing regionally, to help make one of the best albums in pop music history, Graceland. I’m glad I got to hear them live.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Two-Disc Collection, 2012 Tour (jambase.com)
Music Review: Ladysmith Black Mambazo – Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Friends (blogcritics.org)
Graceland Saints (harmonyguy.wordpress.com)

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