For 60 years, South Africa’s 19-time Grammy Award-nominated and five-time Grammy Award-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo has warmed the hearts of audiences worldwide with uplifting vocal harmonies, signature dance moves, and charming onstage banter.
The late former South African President Nelson Mandela designated the group “South Africa’s cultural ambassadors to the world”—a title the members carry with them with the highest honor. Throughout the decades, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has performed for millions of people, singing a message of peace, love, and harmony.
It was Paul Simon’s 1987 Graceland album that introduced Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the world. In 2018, the group received not one but two Grammy Award nominations for two separate albums, a first in the history of world music. One of these albums, Shaka Zulu Revisited, won Best World Music Album. This was the group’s fifth Grammy Award win, the most for any world music group. In 2019, Ladysmith Black Mambazo collaborated for the third time with the famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company on a production entitled Lindiwe and released an album with songs from the show. With their 2024 release, Soothe My Soul…Songs From Our South African Church, the group puts their own spin on gospel music.
