Search - Mamelang :: Zulu Heartbeat

When Paul Simon tapped Ladysmith Black Mambazo for his Graceland album in 1986, the world was exposed to the gorgeously caressing sounds of Zulu harmony groups from South Africa. Surprisingly, there have been few other attempts to hybridize this music. Mamelang is a project with two British synthesists and a collection of South African male and female singers that brings this sound into richer instrumental terrain. There's little denying the instant, soaring appeal of these voices as they rise in choirs and surround soloists who call to the mountaintops and across the veldt. Keyboardists Simon Zagorski-Thomas and Brian Short wrote all the music, and their melodies sound like they were born in South Africa. They create ambient beds and rhythmic percolations, full of tuned percussion that eschew the electronica route in favor of more organic grooves to accompany the lyrics in Zulu and Sotho. Quietly joyful, the British musicians manage to stay out of the way of what is already a jubilant vocal sound. --John Diliberto