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Ladysmith Black Mambazo

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Album Review

Somi: Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba

Read "Zenzile: The Reimagination Of Miriam Makeba" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Il legame musicale e simbolico con l'Africa resta centrale nella produzione artistica di Somi, la vocalist e cantautrice statunitense dai genitori africani giunta al successo con gli album The Lagos Music Saloon e Holy Room. Il suo nuovo progetto è dedicato a Miriam Makeba, che avrebbe compiuto 90 anni il 4 marzo, data di pubblicazione del presente album. I brani in scaletta, tutti presi dallo storico repertorio della cantante, sono condivisi col musical Dreaming Zenzile, che Somi ...

356
Film Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Live!

Read "Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Live!" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


Ladysmith Black Mambazo Live! Heads Up International 2009

Music is, for all intents and purposes, a listening experience--one that is enhanced when accompanied by something visual. The South African vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo delivers visually as well as aurally with Live!, a concert DVD recorded in 2008 at E.J. Thomas Hall at the University of Akron (Ohio).Ladysmith gets that part of its name from the South African town where ...

155
Album Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Long Walk to Freedom

Read "Long Walk to Freedom" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


It's fitting that the third track of Ladysmith Black Mambazo's Long Walk to Freedom was co-written by Joseph Shabala, the group's lead singer, founder and musical director, and American pop star Paul Simon. About twenty years ago, Simon introduced this South African group to the pop world on Graceland. With Emmylou Harris providing a Simon-like lead vocal, the group does honor to “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, which Ladysmith recorded with Simon for Graceland. Joe McBride, referred to ...

337
Album Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Long Walk to Freedom

Read "Long Walk to Freedom" reviewed by Jim Santella


The vocal call and response of Ladysmith Black Mambazo traces our world's civilizations from the very beginning. As a form of communication, singing has accompanied the advancement of societies far and wide. Our ancestors undoubtedly found it as pleasurable as we do. With a cappella singing providing a natural delight that cannot be replaced by modern technology, Joseph Shabala and company deliver a series of timeless messages that grab at your soul.

Except for “Mbube, colored in different ...

134
Album Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: No Boundaries

Read "No Boundaries" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Sonically stunning, No Boundaries is a brave experiment in the dissolution of one culture in another that is only modestly successful. Ladysmith alone or the English Chamber Orchestra alone would work well, but more often than not, together they are unconvincing, a genre stretching effort (ill) conceived in the boardroom and not the studio. Where the listener would hope for a eutectoid relationship like that between jazz and Latin music, South African and European traditions create a micelle association with ...

130
Album Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: No Boundaries

Read "No Boundaries" reviewed by Woodrow Wilkins


Musicians are known to have a “voice"?--a distinctive sound or style of playing that sets them apart from others. Even if you haven't heard the song or been given any kind of heads up about a new recording, it doesn't take long for you to figure out who is performing. That is especially true of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the South African vocalists who are as comfortable a cappella as they are with accompaniment. Recent winners of the Grammy award for ...

210
Album Review

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: No Boundaries

Read "No Boundaries" reviewed by Jim Santella


Accompanied by the English Chamber Orchestra, Ladysmith Black Mambazo combines classical European pieces with the traditional music of their South African homeland on one program. The well-known vocal ensemble finds that both areas of music fit together well when they're doing the interpreting.

“Amazing Grace" is presented in English. The arrangement contains a lustrous African interlude in which the vocal ensemble's traditional spirit soars. They sing in their native language as well as in the classical Latin tongue. ...

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Performance / Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Two-Disc Collection, 2012 Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: Two-Disc Collection, 2012 Tour

Source: JamBase

NEW TWO-DISC COLLECTION OUT NOW; US TOUR STARTS JANUARY 15 Ladysmith Black Mambazo have assembled a two-disc set of recordings that capture the group reaching across the cultural divide and joining hands with musicians from around the globe. Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Friends, out now, contains 30 tracks featuring the world renowned South African group in collaboration with some of the most esteemed and influential recording artists, choirs and orchestras of the past several decades: Paul Simon, Lucky Dube, Emmylou ...

115

Performance / Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Rediscovers Idyllic Past

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Rediscovers Idyllic Past

Source: AAJ Staff

Since their earliest recordings, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has maintained a respect and a reverence for their past. The centuries-old story of their homeland—sometimes joyous, sometimes troubled, but always rich and exhilarating—has been at the very foundation of this vocal group since its very beginning. Ladysmith's international image was boosted after their best-selling collaboration with Paul Simon for his 1986 “Graceland" album. The group of South African musicians helped open the word's eyes to their cullture, and the historic changes of ...

64

Performance / Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: 2011 U.S. Tour Dates

Ladysmith Black Mambazo: 2011 U.S. Tour Dates

Source: JamBase

TOUR STARTS JANUARY 18 IN OAKLAND Ladysmith Black Mambazo kick off their North American tour on January 18 in Oakland, CA, blending their iconic, moving harmonies with high- energy toe-touches and audience sing-alongs. The tour will make stops in over 40 major markets across the US and Canada (including Hawaii) in just two months. Ladysmith Black Mambazo's U.S. Tour Dates:

Tue Jan 18—Oakland, CA—Yoshi's Wed Jan 19—Oakland, CA—Yoshi's Fri Jan 21—Sacramento, CA—Crest Theater Sat Jan 22—San Luis Obispo, CA—Cal Poly ...

143

Performance / Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Tour

Source: JamBase

LADYSMITH BLACK MAMBAZO RETURNS TO U.S. WITH 2010 TOUR

Ladysmith Black Mambazo Ladysmith Black Mambazo, “South Africa's long-running musical treasure" (New York Times), returns to the U.S. in 2010, bringing the nine-man a cappella group's high energy live show to over 40 cities nationwide, including two dates in New York City. The group will perform songs from their 2009 Grammy Award-winning album Ilembe, in addition to selections from their wide catalog.

“There is an honesty and integrity in their music ...

133

Performance / Tour

Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing with Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris

Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing with Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris

Source: All About Jazz

Legendary Grammy award-winning South African vocal collective Ladysmith Black Mambazo is coming to a venue near you!

Mambazo will be performing in support of their star-studded Heads Up International release, Long Walk To Freedom (due at retail January 24). The album is a collection of twelve new recordings of classic Mambazo songs and features vocal performances by such pop icons as Sarah McLachlan, Melissa Etheridge, Natalie Merchant, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Zap Mama, and others. At once their most ambitious ...

Photos

Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Zenzile: The...

Self Produced
2022

buy

Long Walk to Freedom

Heads Up International
2006

buy

No Boundaries

Heads Up International
2005

buy

Raise Your Spirit...

Heads Up International
2003

buy

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