Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is an all male choir from South Africa. They have been together for 40 years now and are a music group that have combined Christian Gospel music with that of traditional South African rhythms. Their choir group consists of tenor, alto and bass harmonies.

They became a group in the early 1960s in Durban South Africa. Joseph Shabalala founded the group and named it Ladysmith Black Mamabazo. Ladysmith being the hometown of Joseph; Black referring to an ox, the strongest farm animal and Mamabazo meaning axe in Zulu. The axe is symbolic in the way that it represents the group being able to ‘chop down’ any challengers. The main goal of LadySmith Black Mambazo is ‘to bring this gospel of loving one another all over the world’ as spoken by Joseph.

Analysis of ‘Homeless’ by LSBM

Texture:

• ·      Texture throughout the song is homophonic, however the call sung by the front man makes the texture monophonic in parts. The response then makes the texture homophonic once again.
• ·      In the ‘chorus’; ‘homeless, homeless, moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake’. The caller and responders sing together which thickens the texture once more.

Duration:

• ·      There is no strong pulse in this song; the rhythm is ‘free’.
• ·      Repetition is used a lot between the call and response. (1.55)
• ·      At 2.22, a stronger pulse is heard through the response as they use different vocal techniques.
• ·      The tempo of this song is quite slow (largo) and doesn’t dramatically change. At 2.29 the accompaniment increases in speed very slightly.
• ·      The lyrics ‘homeless, homeless. The moonlight sleeping on a midnight lake’ are repeated by both the caller and the responders.
• ·      The note values of the responders are generally longer than the caller; a little more sustained.

Tone Colour:

• ·      All male choir; tenor/alto/bass
• ·      Sound production: aerophones
• ·      The choir in general, sounds airy and deep
• ·      There are many vocal techniques used in ‘Homeless’. E.g. 0.36 the tongue is vibrated up and down in the mouth to create a kkkkkrrrrrrllll sound. Often in the background there are almost short yells, which contrasts with the singing as it is fairly sustained and smooth. At 2.26 the caller sings but the responders reply with a beat box effect (not singing) and clicks of the mouth.
• ·      These vocal techniques create contrast under the main melody