THE LION SLEEPS TONIGHT: Celebrating Joseph Shabalala

I never had the pleasure of seeing Ladysmith Black Mambazo (LBM), whose founder Bhekizizwe Joseph Shabalala died this week at age 78, but I did once see a South African choral group singing acappella in the lobby of the King Eddy in Toronto. It was a goosebump moment.

Ironically passing away on the 30th anniversary of the day that former South Africa president – and fan – Nelson Mandela was released from prison, Shabalala headed the most famous Zula choir in the world, whose sublime harmonies brought South African isicathamiya music to global prominence, not least when recruited by Paul Simon to sing on his smash album “Graceland,” which came out in 1986. Check out “Diamonds On the Souls of Her Shoes” to spark your memory.

Shabalala founded the all-male LBM in the 1960s in the hopes of uniting the people of apartheid-era South Africa through music. Mandela later called the Grammy-award winning LBM “cultural ambassadors of South Africa.”

I simply say goosebumps.

Here’s a vintage performance from 2008 with female counterparts The Mint Juleps. — Mike

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