Review...Local CDs

July 12, 2006

Africa meets America in Ladysmith Black Mambazo

By Ross Boissoneau

Two decades ago, Paul Simon introduced the world to the sound of Ladysmith Black Mambazo on “Graceland,” his genre-shattering amalgam of American and South African pop sounds.
Since then, the South African acapella vocal group has touched the souls of listeners around the world with its intoxicating spirit. The eight-piece ensemble will perform with fellow vocalists Sweet Honey In The Rock Wednesday, July 12 for a show at Interlochen’s Kresge Auditorium.
If the group’s most recent disc is any indication, the members’ long walk to freedom is well worth the trip for listeners as well as the performers. “Long Walk To Freedom” is a collection of 12 new recordings of classic Mambazo songs, featuring guest vocal performances by some of the most notable voices of the contemporary pop music scene: Emmylou Harris, Taj Mahal, Sarah McLachlan, Natalie Merchant and Zap Mama. Also appearing on the guest roster are a virtual who’s who of South African artists: Lucky Dube, Bhekumunzi Luthuli, Vusi Mahlasela, Hugh Masekela, Nokukhanya, Phuezkhemisi, and Thandiswa.
Melissa Etheridge and Joe McBride guest on “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes,” one of the most enduring tracks from “Graceland.” They take the loping beat of the original and transform it to something earthier and yet still quite mysterious. Equally mysterious are the group’s nighttime noises that serve as the background for McLachlan’s lead vocal on another “Graceland” track, “Homeless.”
But make no mistake, Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s history and influence reaches far beyond Simon’s album. The group began in 1962, melding the traditional rhythms of the townships of South Africa with a group vocal sound that was a melding of Christian gospel music, pop, even cowboy music with the Zulu tradition he’d been a part of with a group called the Blacks. The DVD “On Tip Toe” traces that history, capturing the group as it grew from a local phenomenon that won all the regional competitions to an international institution.
This is one of the few dates where Ladysmith Black Mambazo is joining forces with Sweet Honey in the Rock. Sweet Honey is a six-piece female vocal ensemble whose music combines jazz, blues, and the sacred music of spirituals, hymns and gospel singing. The group’s mission is more than just musical, however, as it blends lyrics, movement and narrative that variously relate history, point the finger at injustice, encourage activism, and sing the praises of love.
For ticket information, contact the Interlochen box office at 276-7800.


Review: Local CDs

By Robert Downes

This is the second major release for The Conspiracy, a band which has held the torch of metal high in its various incarnations through the years. The Conspiracy is easily Northern Michigan’s most enduring and best-established metal band.
Drink deep of The Conspiracy’s brew of molten melodic metal and then savor the sucker punch slam to the senses from a crack team of musicians who include vocalist Jim Steele, Pete Henry on bass, Michael Dargis on guitar and Matt Richmond on drums.
Check out the spooky, early-Pink Floyd intro to “Out of Control” or the frenetic stampede of “Dark Journey” for the band dancing barefoot on a hot iron grill. Guitarist Michael Dargis is smokin’ hot on this disc and must be giving players in other bands nightmares trying to keep up. “Dark Journey” is at its best when it bends the rules on what has become a fairly rote genre.