Ladysmith Black Mambazo — Shrewsbury Folk Festival, 2024

Live concert film of Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the Shrewsbury Folk Festival in England in 2024. A South African vocal ensemble founded by Joseph Shabalala in 1960 and known worldwide since its collaboration on Paul Simon’s Graceland album (1986), Ladysmith Black Mambazo is the standard-bearer of isicathamiya, a Zulu a cappella choral singing born in the workers’ hostels and mines of South Africa. Onstage, the group, now led by the founder’s sons, blends deep, low vocal harmonies, supple choreographed dance steps and messages of peace and unity, in a tradition handed down across generations. This festival capture documents a live performance by this multiple Grammy Award-winning collective, a cultural ambassador of post-apartheid South Africa. A precious document of vocal world music, at once spiritual and deeply communicative. With no official setlist published, the song order is not reliably documented. Keywords: Ladysmith Black Mambazo live, Shrewsbury 2024, isicathamiya, world music, a cappella, South Africa, Zulu singing, live concert film.