You never forget the songs of your childhood. And sometimes those early tunes resurface when you least expect it.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the all male a capella singing group from South Africa, has shared folk melodies from their homeland with audiences around the globe for 51 years. Their music, contained on more than 50 albums, has earned widespread recognition and awards, including three Grammys. But success hasn't always been easy.
Over the years, original members of the group -- there have been more than 30 members over the half-century -- and family members have died tragically. At one point, group founder and leader Joseph Shabalala stopped singing. Somehow the group always managed to survive the dark times and today, their touring schedule is a grueling eight months out of a year. So for their newest album, "Songs From a Zulu Farm," the men of Ladysmith opted to return to a simpler time.
"Most of the songs are children's songs. They are important because they connect me with my childhood when life was no hassle. That is a good feeling. When we perform these songs on stage, it always brings that freedom," said Albert Mazibuko, 62, a founding member of the group.
For the three original members who remain in Ladysmith, the album is a tribute to their lives growing up on the farm. One song, "Ntulube" (Away, You River Snakes), they sang while swimming because they only wanted to swim with turtles. Another song, "Leliyafu" (Clouds Move Away), they would sing in wintertime while herding, when they sat on the mountains feeling the air grow cooler and watching the clouds moving in.
"Amazingly, every time we would sing that song, the clouds would move away," Mazibuko said.
They also do a familiar tune: "Old McDonald ... Zulu Style."
"These are the songs we sang as children, but the message and the enjoyment that you get from the music is for everyone," Mazibuko said.
It's is fitting then that the current composition of the group bridges several generations. Four of Shabalala's sons joined in the early '90s. It could have been a recipe for inter-generational disaster, but Mazibuko says they've managed the demographic diversity quite nicely.
"It is a blessing because we all get along so well," he said. "It doesn't mean we don't have disagreements sometimes, but ... we make sure at the end of the day we come together with a solution and then we go forward. It helps us to be a family and the culture is that you respect one another, young and old."
The younger members are charged with putting dancing to the music while the elders remind the younger ones that everything doesn't have to happen yesterday. Still, Mazibuko is sometimes dismayed by young South African musicians who are more inclined to take their cues from American hip-hop artists rather than traditional folk groups like Ladysmith.
"They see that as something that, if you are in style, then you have to imitate them and dress like them and sing like them," Mazibuko said. "It is not because they don't like their music at home. Most of those who make their music at home come to us for advice. We say if you want to be a success, don't forget your roots."
Ladysmith is doing its part to preserve folk music by building a school to teach music history. They currently have a building in their hometown of Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal where they teach workshops, but hope to have the school opened by year's end, Mazibuko said.
Until then, they'll be singing songs rich in history to satisfy young and old.
Concert Preview
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
8 p.m. Saturday. $41-$67.
Rialto Center for the Arts, 80 Forsyth Street NW.
404-413-9849. www.rialtocenter.org.
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