Chronicle Editor
KwaZulu-Natal: SOUTH AFRICA imbube/isicathamiya music group Black Mambazo celebrated its 60-year anniversary by launching three new young isicathamiya groups it discovered during a programme called Ladysmith Black Mambazo Mobile Academy started last year.
The celebration was held at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall in the KZN Midlands on Saturday night. The Homeless hit-makers performed their singalong songs, with the audience being led by Joseph Shabalala’s three sons, Sibongiseni, Thami and Thulani Shabalala. Group leader Sibongiseni Shabalala told Daily Sun for the past 60 years, the group has been true to its roots and has taken isicathamiya to global spheres.
“It is for that reason that Ladysmith Black Mambazo is celebrating isicathamiya as a vehicle that has transported and promoted our culture and heritage globally. We are launching three groups discovered through our mobile academy. We have recorded them and released their debut albums through our studios. My father is happy about this but unfortunately he cannot attend, because he is ill,” he said.
He said it was his father’s big dream to see an isicathamiya academy and for them to groom young groups as a way of developing isicathamiya. Inkunzemnyama from Msinga in KZN, Umzamo young boys from Pietermaritzburg and Good News from Mbombela in Mpumalanga were the groups unveiled during the celebration. — DailySun.
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