Mention African song and most Americans think of South African practitioners of the vocal arts – Solomon Lindy, Miriam Makeba, and perhaps more than anyone else in recent memory, the vocal ensemble Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
In a career that has spanned nearly 30 years, the group has recorded 40 albums and sold over six million records. First brought to the attention of an international audience through Paul Simon's Graceland recording, Mambazo's first US album Shaka Zulu (1987) won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album.
Black Mambazo represents the traditional culture of South Africa. The group is regarded as South Afria's cultural emissary at home and around the world. In 1993, at Nelson Mandela's request, Mambazo accompanied the future Present and then-President of South Africa, F.W. de Klerk, to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway. Mambazo sang again as President Mandela's inauguration in May of 1994. The group is a national treasure of the new South Africa, in part because it embodies the traditions suppressed in the old South Africa.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:SATURDAY JANUARY 31st @ 8 PM
