The Joburg Theatre brought back a personal favourite of mine, the grammy winning Lady Smith Black Mambazo. The theatre was so packed.
Iris walked in with a big smile and we took all of it in. Their voices truly sound like yup, I see why they would win a grammy. Some of the original members of the group are still actively leading the group with some of the sons of the old members joining in as well.
They actually told us their intent to create a Lady Smith Black Mambozo African music to preserve and train African music & sound in Lady Smith in honor of their late founder Joseph Shabalala .
The initiative had already taken them to various provinces looking for talent to nature. They include each musical group as part of their shows and that night, the group came from Mpumalanga. Their sound was very Swati but meets sqathamiya with a very conscious message behind which was interesting and I suppose worth remembering.
None the less, the show came towards an end and I was so confused because I had not heard the famous song “Nomathemba”. I asked an old lady in the bathroom why they didn’t do that song, she said “Nomathemba” ? they started with it . I was late for my own song, just imagine ! I sulked all the way home, naturally. Iris couldn’t console me.
