Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 4 March 1999 — Page 19

The Muncie Times, March 4,1999, Page 19

A night to remember

South Africa’s Mambazo a treat for Muncie

By The Editor It was a night to remember as South Africa’s high-kicking and high-step-ping Ladysmith and Black Mambazo gave Munsonians a memorable treat. The 10-member a cappella group entertained several thousand people who trooped into Ball State University’s Emens Auditorium for the one-night concert. Their colorful African dashiki shirts, dark pants and white tennis shoes made them stand out in the darkened auditorium. Led by Joseph Shabalala, who doubles as founder and lead singer, Black Mambazo was in top form as the

group went through a series of Zulu songs and frenetic dances. As South Africa’s new blue, green, black, red, yellow, red, and white flag provided a backdrop, Black Mambazo exposed the Emens Auditorium audience to Isicathamiya music from South Africa. This music is the product of South Africa’s mines. During the days of apartheid (legalized racial segregation) before Nelson Mandela became the country’s first democraticallu elected president in 1994, blacks who worked in South Africa gold and diamond mines were forced to live in barracks-like hotels. The families, who were not allowed

to join the men in the urban areas, remained behind in the rural areas. So the men entertained themselves by singing while they worked in the mines. They also entertained themselves in the hotels where, after working six-day weeks, on Sundays they would engage in spirited singing and dancing. For many, this was the only entertainment available to them. They learned intricate dance steps, putting most of their weight on their toes so as not to disturb the security guards outside. There were fierce singing and dancing competitions among the hostel dwellers. In the mid-1950s Joseph Shabalala

went to work in a factory in the South African coastal city of Durban. There he found some people to sing with. Eventually he returned home to Ladysmith and started trying to put a vocal group togehter. It took time because he was a perfectionist. “I felt there was something missing. . .(I) tried to teach them the music I felt, but I failed until 1964 when a dream came to me. I always heard the harmony and I said this is the harmony I can teach it to those guys. Some of them were in the dream, too. . ., Shabalala said in one interview. Shabalala recruited members of his

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