Ladysmith Black Mambazo at Verizon

LEWIS WHITTINGTON

South Africa's classic vocal group Ladysmith Black Mambazo made a stop in the nearly full Verizon Hall on a cold February Sunday afternoon with its ?Long Walk to Freedom? concert. The group delivered its joyous messages of peace and cultural pride via songs and speeches, some of them attached to South African political gravitas and others not.

Founder Joseph Shabalala led his pared-down troupe of six in a transfixing musical tour of his nation. LBM's signature sound called isicathamiya, was born in the mines of South Africa. Shabalala's call-and-response intros led to harmonies that musically drove us deep into South Africa's traditions of story-telling, gesture and dance.

It was refreshing to hear Ladysmith away from the diminutive pop tableau of Paul Simon, who used them on his multi-Grammy award winning album ?Graceland? in the mid-?80s. Simon did much to raise Ladysmith's profile? as the group had readily acknowledged?but to understand the group's artistry, it's necessary to hear them outside the mainstream frames of a commercial artist like Simon. His patronage tends to overshadow more important facts about Ladysmith: They have performed for 45 years, recorded more than 40 albums and accompanied Nelson Mandela when he accepted his Nobel Peace Prize.

The Kimmel Center provided a serviceably warm concert venue for the traditional Zulu & South African ?whisper? songs. The group's rich "wall of sound? harmonies maintained their dimensions even on Verizon's ground floor, where the acoustics can sound flat.

Singer-songwriter activist Vusi Mahlasela opened the program, with personal songs from his struggles in his country. One was dedicated to his grandmother who confronted police who sought to arrest Mahlasela when he was a youth. She told them they were not going to take him from his place with her and said if they entered her house she would throw boiling water on them. They left. Mahlasela also spoke about activism in South Africa's struggle with the ravages of HIV/AIDS and the political leadership in this area by Nelson Mandela and Bishop Desmond Tutu. The self-taught guitarist's serene style and rich honey-husky voice reinforced the inherent drama in his words.