MUSIC REVIEW: Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Mahaiwe

Submitted by Seth Rogovoy on February 7, 2010 - 10:38pm

Classical Music

At Large

Other

Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Sunday, February 7, 2010

by Seth Rogovoy

(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass., February 7, 2010) - It’s hard to believe that the first time we heard Ladysmith Black Mambazo was nearly twenty-five years ago, when Paul Simon brought them to the world’s attention first on his landmark Graceland album and then on subsequent concert tours. Even more mind-boggling is that the group dates its origins back fifty years to founder Joseph Shabalala’s first vocal group, featuring brothers and cousins, back in 1960.

As seen and heard at the Mahaiwe on Sunday afternoon, the group has simply gotten better with age, and shows no signs of letting up. Now boasting younger members in addition to some longstanding ones, including Shabalala himself, the ensemble seems guaranteed to last, especially in the capable hands of Shabalala’s son, his father’s heir apparent as leader, who helped his father conduct the group through its entertaining program.

As always, the nine-member ensemble merged complex dance and acrobatic movements with equally complex vocal pyrotechnics in Shabalala’s patented isicathamiya style, which engages multiple harmonies, chants, sound effects, grunts and growls, animal sounds, vocal clicks, gospel-like call and response, and gorgeous melismas, in which notes aren’t sung directly but swooped upon, dragged up and down the scale.

The music has roots in miner’s work songs, but Shabalala has expanded the palette to include animal songs, children’s songs, love songs, and songs about courtship rituals. Indeed, one number was sung in English, and the main thrust of the tune was “Hey, beautiful girl, come along and kiss me.”

A Ladysmith concert is not just a vocal recital, however. The group puts on a show bordering on vaudeville in its variety and entertainment value, with dance, acrobatics, comedy sketches, improvisation, audience participation, and self mockery. While some of the unison dance numbers require lockstep discipline, there was always room for individual expression, and once in a while a dancer would go off on his own tangent and improvise, often to comic effect.

The singers have a mischievous streak, and even though they are very serious about their music, they don’t take themselves too seriously, which made the program all the more entertaining for the nearly sold-out crowd at the Mahaiwe.