At home with Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ebony, Sept, 1996 by Lindiwe Ngakane

Since then, the group hasn't looked back, and their popularity has spilled across the country's borders into what was then Rhodesia, Swaziland and other southern and central African countries. By 1985, Ladysmith Black Mambazo had recorded 25 albums, but it was yet to receive its biggest boost. "In February E [1985] Paul Simon was in Johannesburg, and he called my home in Claremont and spoke to my wife," Shabalala recalls. "At the time we were touring in Soshanguve [outside Pretoria], so she phoned me and told me to call him. When I spoke to him, he said he was a fan of our music and wanted to work with us. I was so excited. I knew about him from his concert in Central Park with [Art] Garfunkel. I couldn't believe that in America they could like isicathamiya." Instinctively knowing that he was on to something good, Shabalala dropped everything and rushed to Johannesburg to meet with Simon. "When I saw him, I looked into his eyes and knew that he was the one who would open doors for us," he says. But it was only later that year that he received a package from America. It contained a demo tape of the song "Homeless," and a handwritten note from Simon asking for Black Mambazo to contribute to it.

The song was part of the Graceland album that was a catalyst to the group's international success. In 1986, Shabalala and Black Mambazo were called to perform for the popular American television show Saturday Night Live, in front of an audience of more than 50 million viewers. "After that, our phone didn't stop ringing with people asking where our music was from," Shabalala says. In 1987, the group conducted its first major international tour, wooing crowds in Europe, Australia, the United States and Zimbabwe with its perfectly harmonized, mournful sound.

But it was not all smooth sailing for the group. With their success coming at the height of the cultural boycott against South Africa, members were often called upon to explain themselves. Shabalala was, and remains, unapologetic, explaining that their music and the workshops and interviews they often conducted also made a contribution to raising popular international awareness about South Africa. When he talks of the groups forthcoming trips, Shabalala says it is still performing the function of ambassador of the new South Africa.

Now, international stars with a Grammy Award for their 1988 album Shaka Zulu, which was produced by Paul Simon, they perform to capacity audiences of tens of thousands of fans. They have also collaborated with several internationally acclaimed artists, including Andreas Vollenweider and American country and western queen Dolly Parton.

For Shabalala, music is more than just a career. Apart from his Work in schools in South Africa, Shabalala also works with street children and conducts workshops in schools across the United States. "Initially, I thought that I was brilliant," he says. "But now I know that it is God." His music heralded a renaissance of traditional South African music. "When we first started, people did not think it was possible to make money playing isicathamiya music," Shabalala says. "It originated from the migrant workers in the rural areas. They lived in the single-sex hostels. As men far from their homes, many got homesick, so they would sing. Because of the absence of women, some of those men sang in the high-pitched falsetto voices. "But isicathamiya also involves dance - careful, soft, foot movements," Shabalala continues. "If the dancers stamped their feet too loudly, they were often ridiculed as iiqhaza [country bumpkins] and told to keep quiet," he chuckles.