Ladysmith Black Mambazo spreads positive message

Albert Mazibuko, one of the original singers in Ladysmith Black Mambazo, said one of the short-term goals the a cappella group from South Africa had in the early days was to win a singing competition.

That was in 1973. Since then, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has won multiple Grammy Awards and other worldwide recognition since being introduced to the world via Paul Simon's 1986 album "Graceland."

"There is a room in (group founder Joseph Shabalala's) house where we keep all the trophies," said Mazibuko. "We still have that photo of us when we won that first award. But as I was there a few weeks ago, I looked around at all the awards and it showed that we are truly blessed."

While the group is, indeed, blessed, it also has brought joy and peace to its fans and listeners, a feat that Mazibuko tried to downplay.

"We have an opportunity to perform for people all over the world and spread a positive message," he said. "But being a part of this group has been a journey, a beautiful journey."

The journey includes developing into better human beings, said Mazibuko. Something that is a challenge in itself.

"The music that we sing takes a lot of dedication and discipline," he said. "Joseph writes all the music. And all of the singers need to be flexible to learn what he wants."

Each night, said Mazibuko, the group will be preparing for a performance and Shabalala will come in with notes on the evening's set list.

"We will run down the list and then he will give us tips on a previous performance and how to make the new performance better," said Mazibuko. "So we all need to remember what he said."

In addition to being mentally flexible, the group needs to be vocally and physically limber, because the group also takes on some strenuous choreography that require are series of overhead kicks.

"We do a lot of dancing on stage," said Mazibuko. "And we do a lot of stretching before the performance."

He said the group members take care of their voices by drinking a lot of water and hot tea.

"It doesn't matter how hot it is that day, we always drink hot tea," he said with a laugh. "And we don't go outside quite a bit and expose ourselves to the pollution in the air. And we make sure we eat healthy foods that won't hurt our performance. We take care of our bodies. No one in the group smokes or drinks alcohol. I don't say those are bad things, but we choose not to."