Ladysmith Black Mambazo Here Feb. 18

For more than 40 years, the voices of Ladysmith Black Mambazo have married the intricate rhythms and harmonies of their native South African musical traditions to the sounds and sentiments of Christian gospel music. The result is a musical and spiritual blend that has touched a worldwide audience representing every corner of the religious, cultural and ethnic landscape.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo bring their incredible, joyous South African harmonies to The Clayton Center for an 8 p.m. performance on Saturday, Feb. 18.

Best-known for defining the sound on Paul Simon's groundbreaking 1980s Graceland album, Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s musical efforts have garnered praise and accolades within the recording industry. Led by founder Joseph Shabalala, this group of extraordinary vocalists delivers the poly-rhythmic, complex and harmonious songs developing out of the African Isicathamiya (is-cot-a-ME-Ya) tradition. Isicathamiya developed in the mines of South Africa, where black workers were taken by rail to work far away from their homes and their families. Poorly housed and paid worse, the mine workers would entertain themselves after a six-day week by singing songs into the wee hours on Sunday morning. When the miners returned to the homelands, this musical tradition returned with them.

In the mid-1980s, Paul Simon visited South Africa and incorporated Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s rich tenor/alto/bass harmonies into his Graceland album – a landmark 1986 recording that was considered seminal in introducing world music to mainstream audiences. Graceland won many awards including the Grammy Award for Best Album of the Year. A year later, Simon produced Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s first U.S. release, Shaka Zulu, which won the Grammy Award in 1988 for Best Traditional Folk Album. Since then, and in total, the group has received 15 Grammy Award nominations and three Grammy Award wins, including one in 2009.

In addition to their work with Paul Simon, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has recorded with numerous artists from around the world, including Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, Dolly Parton, and Ben Harper. Their 2006 CD Long Walk To Freedom featured guest singers Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant, Melissa Etheridge, Emmylou Harris and Taj Mahal, among others. Their film work includes an appearance in Michael Jackson’s Moonwalker video and Spike Lee’s Do It A Cappella. They also provided soundtrack material for Disney’s The Lion King, Part II as well as Eddie Murphy’s Coming To America, Clint Eastwood's Invictus, Marlon Brando’s A Dry White Season, Sean Connery’s The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen and James Earl Jones’ Cry The Beloved Country. A film documentary titled On Tip Toe: Gentle Steps to Freedom, the story of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was nominated for an Academy Award.

After 40-plus years, one would think that the group would be slowing down, but Ladysmith Black Mambazo is entering what promises to be the busiest years of their career since Graceland. They have six new recording projects they are readying for release, a new concert DVD and a children's project. They have long wished to release a trilogy of CD's that sing of their life experiences in South Africa called "Our South African Life." Volume one, released in January 2011, is Songs From A Zulu Farm.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. Ladysmith Black Mambazo concert are $29 and are available through The Clayton Center Box Office by phone at 919-553-1737, from 10 a.m. until noon and from 1 until 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, or online atwww.theclaytoncenter.com.

All shows in the 2011-2012 Palladian Series are held in the renovated and historic 600-seat auditorium at 111 E. Second St. in downtown Clayton, located about 15 miles east of Raleigh. The next scheduled show in the Palladian Series is a special event performance by WRAL news anchor Bill Leslie & Lorica in an Afternoon of Appalachian Storytelling. Tickets are $20. A concert by legendary folk singer Nancy Griffith on Saturday, April 14, will close out the season. Tickets to that show are $34.

Other popular artists presented in past seasons at The Clayton Center include Kathy Mattea, Dianne Reeves, Ricky Skaggs, Johnny Winter, Jesse Cook, Jim Brickman, Doc Watson, Eileen Ivers, Riders In the Sky, the Harlem Gospel Choir and David Sedaris.