South African musician who collaborated with Paul Simon
Joseph Shabalala 1941-2020
Joseph Shabalala, who has died aged 78, was the founder and leader of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the hugely successful South African vocal group that won global renown after working with Paul Simon on his hit 1986 album Graceland. In the next few years, they won five Grammy Awards, released more than 50 albums and, in 1990, sang at Nelson Mandela’s birthday, four months after he was released from prison.
Joseph Shabalala was brought up on a whiteowned farm in the hills of KwaZulu-Natal, near Ladysmith, where he worked from the age of 12. Even as a boy, he was known for his singing and in his teens, he moved to Durban, where he joined a group. He founded his own group in 1959. Ladysmith referred to his home town, black was for black oxen, “the strongest animals on the farm”, while Mambazo is the Zulu word for axe, said The Guardian. At first they sang a cappella in a Zulu style called isicathamiya, but as time went on, Shabalala helped them refine and develop this into their unique sound, which switched “suddenly and dramatically from stirring, intense and bass-heavy vocal work to quiet, delicate and almost whispered passages – matched with equally unexpected dance moves”. The band became hugely successful in South Africa in the 1970s, singing traditional songs as well as Shabalala’s own compositions, and in 1979, they were featured in a BBC documentary about South African music. Paul Simon saw it, and approached them to work with him on his album. His project proved deeply controversial, as by travelling to South Africa he broke a UN cultural boycott, but Shabalala was glad to be involved. “He came to me like a child asking his father, ‘Can you teach me something?’” he recalled. “He was so polite. That was my first time to hug a white man.” And from his cell on Robben Island, Mandela refused to join in the condemnation, said The Times: he later told Shabalala that his music had inspired him, and described the group as “cultural ambassadors” for the Rainbow Nation.
They recorded two songs with Simon – Homeless, with a melody based on a Zulu wedding song – and Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, and took part in the Graceland international tour. After that, they toured the world themselves, appeared on Sesame Street and in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker film, and sang with Dolly Parton and Stevie Wonder. They performed at Mandela’s inauguration in 1994, and in front of the Queen at the Royal Albert Hall. But Shabalala’s success did not insulate him from personal tragedy. His brother was murdered in 1991 and Nellie, his wife of three decades, was shot dead by a masked gunman in 2002. Another of his brothers was killed in 2004. He is survived by his second wife and his four sons, all of whom joined him in Ladysmith Black Mambazo.