South African choral group Ladysmith Black Mambazo speaks with KGNU’s DJ Jules. The group, celebrating their 64th anniversary, discusses their mission of spreading messages of love, peace, and unity through their music. They share a few songs and talk about the origins and legacy of the group. Ladysmith Black Mambazo kicked off their U.S. tour at the Boulder Theater on July 21st (Interview date: 7/20/24)
DJ Jules: Hello everyone and thanks for tuning in. It is DJ Jules and I have the honor and pleasure to be in the studio with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Hello, how are you today?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: We are very good. How are you?
DJ Jules: I’m well. I’m so excited and honored to be here with you.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: We are also excited to be here.
DJ Jules: This is so great. For all of you KGNU listeners, this is a special treat because on Sunday, July 21st, Ladysmith Black Mambazo will be at the Boulder Theater. Tickets are still on sale and it is going to be a beautiful show. If I’m not mistaken, this is the kickoff of your tour. Is that correct?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Yes, it’s correct, and we are very excited to start the tour here in Boulder.
DJ Jules: We are so excited to have you, and where is this tour going to be taking you with these upcoming months?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: We are going all around the U.S. From here we’re going to California, and then we’re going to Massachusetts and New Jersey. We’re going to be here for the next three weeks.
DJ Jules: Wonderful. I saw that when you get to New Jersey, you’ll be performing at the Count Basie Theater. That’s right where I grew up. I used to perform there and be there. So excited for my Monmouth County, New Jersey folks to get a taste of you as well.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Oh, yeah. We’ll tell them we saw you.
DJ Jules: Perfect. And I’ll tell them to get out there and come see you. What a wonderful thing. And so on this upcoming tour, will you be singing songs from your latest album?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Yes, most definitely. We’ll sing most of the songs from our latest album. This is the album we recorded after we had been in the pandemic. It is an album that we recorded to soothe the souls, to give people hope and to say thanks to God that we made it through the COVID time, and we are very happy to still be on the road and we wish everyone a good life.
DJ Jules: Your answer hinted to the name of the album, correct?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Yes. Soothe My Soul.
DJ Jules: Beautiful. And so listeners, when they go to the Boulder Theater on Sunday night, can hear songs from that latest album?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Yes. The songs like “God Loves Us All”, “Wonderful Love”. Beautiful songs that we recorded that want to give hope to the people that even if you go through some hard times, God is still with us.
DJ Jules: That’s a beautiful thing, to share the message and feeling of hope with people. It often can feel like a hopeless world we live in. So to have that connection, that’s beautiful. And with this upcoming show that will be happening at the Boulder Theater, there will be a specific style of song and dance that the audience will be able to engage in and feel and watch and observe. Could you please share with the KGNU listeners more about your style of singing and dancing?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: The music that we sing is called Isicathamiya. It’s the music that was derived from our Zulu music. The original music is called Zulu. We are going to be singing some songs where we show how to do the Zulu music, how to do the Zulu dance, to show them where this Isicathamiya music comes from.
DJ Jules: Amazing. And is that part of your shows traditionally, to show people where your music is coming from?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: It is very important to us to show the original, because our fathers left this to us. We also want to pass it on to the younger generation and we want people to understand where this music is coming from.
DJ Jules: Could you please share with the KGNU listeners a little bit about the history of Ladysmith Black Mambazo?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Yes, Ladysmith Black Mambazo was founded in 1960 by Joseph Shabalala, the founder of the group who happens to be our father. There are four of his sons in the group. So it was founded in 1960 by him. The mission for him when he founded the group was to give hope to the people, because this group was formed during the time of apartheid in South Africa. It was a hard time, but he wanted to compose songs that would give hope that someday things will be okay. And also just to encourage them to love one another so that they can be able to live. During the time of apartheid, things were difficult, but he wanted to make sure that people know that we can live together in harmony. So that is the reason why he started the group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
DJ Jules: And do you feel like with today’s rendition of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, that’s still the mission and still the focus?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: It is still the focus. It is still the mission that our father left with us – to go on and preach this gospel of love, peace and harmony throughout the world. That is the mission that he left with us and we want to continue with it because it is still very relevant today to give people that hope and also to encourage them to be able to work with one another.
DJ Jules: Absolutely. It’s so important to share that reminder that there’s a lot of love in the world and to just treat with love and kindness, operate with that first and foremost. That’s a beautiful thing. I have another question – I know Ladysmith Black Mambazo has a history of being an actively touring band. What does it mean to tour to you and why is touring so important to the group?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Touring, it’s so important to us. As my brother was saying, it’s all about preaching peace, love and harmony. And also the unity. Unity is very important to us. And also to share with the world our country, our history and to encourage the young people to live a good life and to learn from the elders, because young people, they have energy, but older people live with them so that is very important to us. This is why even in our group with different ages. We have a guy who’s 70 something years old and we have a young guy. We as people can live together. Different colors don’t matter. Different ages, different names doesn’t matter. We can still live together. So it’s very important to us that we still continue sharing that mission, that message.
DJ Jules: Absolutely. And now when Ladysmith Black Mambazo had the opportunity to work with Paul Simon on Graceland, how did that shift the mission and the trajectory of the group?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Ladysmith Black Mambazo started working with Paul Simon in 1985. So Paul Simon came to South Africa looking to work with Ladysmith Black Mambazo because he had the name of Ladysmith Black Mambazo from one of the teachers here in America. So, his wish was to work with Ladysmith Black Mambazo. What he did for Ladysmith Black Mambazo is that he opened the gate for Ladysmith Black Mambazo to tour all around the world.
DJ Jules: That’s beautiful. And you’re still honoring that gate that’s opened up. You’re still using this to spread this mission of love, of unity, of peace, and provide an educational and historic point of view, too, so people can learn about the group, your country, your music, and your culture, sound and style. Ladysmith Black Mambazo will be performing at the Boulder Theater on Sunday, July 21st. Tickets are still available and it’ll be a very moving and beautiful show. Do you have any plans for your time while you’re here in Colorado besides your performance on Sunday?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Even though it’s hot, we’re gonna go around and check the place out.
DJ Jules: Beautiful. Thank you very much for being here. I hope all you KGNU listeners can get out on Sunday, July 21st, to go see Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Boulder Theater.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Thank you for having us..
