Ladysmith Black Mambazo back in SA to celebrate Grammy win

Members of acapella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo arrive in SA.

Members of acapella group Ladysmith Black Mambazo arrive in SA.

Published Apr 11, 2018

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Durban - Award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo is back in the country with their fifth Grammy Award, which they won at the beginning of the year.

The schatamiya group arrived in Durban three months after they won the award in the US.

They had been on tour abroad since winning their latest accolade.

There were tears of joy when members of the group were united with their families at Durban's King Shaka Airport, where they were welcomed by eThekwini deputy mayor Fawzia Peer.

In January, the acapella group won the award for the Best World Music Album for their album Shaka Zulu Revisited: 30th Anniversary Celebration.

Although the group’s founder, Joseph Shabalala has retired, the group is now led by his sons as they continue the legacy.

Group member Thulani Shabalala said the Grammy award announcement was made when they were on stage at another performance in the US.

“We sent our brother Msizi to attend the awards and myself and other members went to perform at one of our gigs, as we were on stage, the programme director announced that we had won the Grammy award and the audience started screaming and clapping a huge round of applause for is,” said Shabalala.

“We were shocked and excited at the same time, I honestly didn’t think we would win but hey, here we are with the Grammy,” said Shabalala.

He said they would take the award to Ladysmith to their father.

Shabalala said the three month long US tour was different to other tours they have had before as there were more performances and little rest.

“It was a great journey but tiring at the same time. For the first time we performed three times a day for the whole 4 weeks, can you imagine how exhausting that was but we gave it our best,” he said.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo won’t be in the country for long as they prepare for a month long tour of the UK and a performance at the Queen’s birthday party in London later this month.

“We are excited to be back home, we also missed our families. But we won’t be in the country for long as we are invited to perform at the Queen’s birthday celebration,” said Shabalala.

SUNDAY TRIBUNE 

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