Zulu • The Best of Africa

Ladysmith Black Mambazo

by: admin - February 23rd, 2010 Filed under: Music, south africa Add Comment

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a male choral group from South Africa that sings in the vocal style of isicathamiya and mbube. They rose to worldwide prominence as a result of singing with Paul Simon on his album, Graceland and have won multiple awards, including three Grammy Awards. They were formed by Joseph Shabalala in 1960 and became one of South Africa’s most prolific recording artists, with their releases receiving gold and platinum disc honours.The group has now become a mobile academy, teaching people about South Africa and its culture.
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Maiko Zulu

by: admin - August 19th, 2009 Filed under: Music, People 5 Comments

Maiko Zulu is a Zambian musician, human rights activist and a recognised International labour organisation child ambassador to zambia. His work both in the music industry and human rights arena is well recognised by all Zambian spectrums.

Maiko was born in Livingstone which is a tourist capital city of Zambia. He grew up on his family owned farm. Maiko moved to Lusaka, the capital city of Zambia at the age of six according to his biography Maiko Zulu website,[4]. It was while in Lusaka that maiko began his singing career. He entered the music industry with a stage name called St. Michael, a name he later changed for some controversial reasons.

Maiko is a song writer, musician and producer. He has produced Reggea music. His songs has included a Mad president, a song which the state owned TV Broadcaster refused to play on their station.

Tags: ambassador, capital city of zambia, controversial reasons, google, human rights activist, international labour organisation, livingstone, lusaka, maiko, music industry, musician, script type, song writer, stage name, text javascript, tourist capital, tv broadcaster, Zulu

Mbaqanga

by: admin - June 15th, 2009 Filed under: Africa 1 Comment

Mbaqanga is a style of South African music with rural Zulu roots that continues to influence musicians worldwide today. The style originated in the early 1960s. Historically, laws such as the Land Act of 1913 to the Group Area Act(1950) initially prevented people from integrating from different tribal communities, consequently making it almost impossible for most music artist to gain recognition beyond their tribal boundaries. The music genre mbaganga developed during this time (1960s) and to this day most of the major record labels are white owned companies with very few black artist that have contributed to their own material.
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