Ladysmith celebrates democracy and music

For Ladysmith Black Mambazo, it's a time for celebration. The group is 45 years old, its been touring for 20 years and South Africa has had democracy for 12 years.

"So we are celebrating these three things," said group member Albert Mazibuko.

And celebrating with the group's most recent album, "Long Walk to Freedom." "Because we have some songs that people want to hear all the time — it doesn't matter where, in South Africa, Japan, United States, England, wherever — we said, let's rerecord these songs, because it seems that these songs have some significance to the people.

"But in order for us to make our celebration complete, we needed some other people to celebrate with us, so that's why we invited some other artists to collaborate with us."

The album, which was released last January, includes guest artists Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Joe McBride, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant and Zap Mama, and some African guest artists. "They blessed our recording of the album," said Mazibuko. "This is a very, very happy album."

Recently, the group performed in Carnegie Hall with guests Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, The Mahotella Queens and Pete Seeger.

When Ladysmith Black Mambazo comes to Salt Lake City, it will be performing essentially the same program — minus the guest artists.

The style is traditional Zulu music called isicathamiya. Mazibuko said it was created by their forefathers while they were working in mines away from their homes. "After they had been working for six days and they missed their homes, in order to comfort themselves, they got together to sing the same music that they used to sing at home with their wives and families.

"In our music, when you sing you dance, and when you dance you stomp the floor very hard. So they did that dancing, which is what we are famous for. It makes it very vibrant. And when they did that, the security guards came running and said, 'Why is there so much commotion here? Is there a fight?' They said, 'No, it is just dancing.' 'That is not allowed here."'

So in order to make peace, they began to tip-toe the dances. "When they got back home, they sang the same music they used to sing in the mines. And the people at home were saying, 'Wow, these people they are not stomping anymore, they are tip-toeing.' So they praised them, they say cothoza mfana, it means tip-toe guys. So that's how the music was created."