Zulu music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Zulu are a South African ethnic group. Many Zulu musicians have become a major part of South African music. A number of Zulu-folk derived styles have also become well-known across South Africa and abroad. The 1970s duo Juluka, consisting of a white man, Johnny Clegg, and a Zulu, Sipho Mchunu. They became wildly popular with a blend of rock and Zulu folk music called maskanda, which has since evolved into an urban style called mbaqanga [1].
[edit] Mbube and Isicathamiya
Main articles: Mbube (genre), Isicathamiya
Mbube is both a song, originally released in the 1940s by Solomon Linda, and a genre of South African popular music that was inspired by it. "Mbube" was recorded in 1939 and became a major hit in Swaziland. The song was in a traditional Zulu choral style, which soon came to the attention of American musicologist Alan Lomax, who brought to the song to folk singer Pete Seeger, then of The Weavers. They made the song a Top 15 American hit in 1952 (as "Wimoweh"), though creator Solomon Linda was not credited; later, the Kingston Trio released a cover of it [2]. Later still, The Tokens turned the song into "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and it became a #1 American hit. However, from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s, the mbube style fell in favour of a more harmonious sub-style, Isicathamiya (mbube tends to be sung powerfully). On a side note, the most popular isicathamiya/mbube group of today is the Durban-based Ladysmith Black Mambazo, formed by Joseph Shabalala in 1960. The group itself has gone onto achieve worldwide fame (partly due to their appearance with Paul Simon on Graceland), something which the group's counterparts have not succeeded with.
[edit] Zulu-traditional
The Zulu people adopted the guitar following its introduction by the Portuguese in the 16th century, and was locally and cheaply made by the 1930s. John Bhengu was the first major Zulu guitarist, earning a reputation in 1950s Durban for his unique ukupika style of picking (as opposed to traditional strumming). Bhengu's song format, which includes an instrumental introduction (izihlabo), a melody and spoken praise (ukubonga) for a clan or family, was widely used for a long time in Zulu-traditional music. Bhengu, however, switched to the electric guitar in the late 1960s and began recording as "Phuzushukela". His popularity exploded, and Zulu-traditional music entered a boom.
Since the 1970s, the concertina has returned to Zulu-traditional music, while diverse influences from pop music and drum and bass were added. Vusi Ximba's Siyakudamisa (1992) was perhaps the most memorable Zulu-traditional album of the later 20th century, and drew controversy for racy, comedic lyrics.
