{"id":40964,"date":"2020-02-11T15:32:53","date_gmt":"2020-02-11T14:32:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/joseph-shabalala-of-ladysmith-black-mambazo-dies-at-78-2\/"},"modified":"2020-05-16T14:12:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-16T13:12:01","slug":"joseph-shabalala-ladysmith-black-mambazo-dies-at-78","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pan-african-music.com\/en\/joseph-shabalala-ladysmith-black-mambazo-dies-at-78\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Shabalala of Ladysmith Black Mambazo dies at 78"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Joseph Shabalala, leader of the world-renowned, multiple Grammy Award-winning group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, has transitioned. Though there is yet to be an official confirmation of the cause of death from his family, the elder had been battling with cancer during the latter years of his life.<\/span><\/h4>\n

Social media streams quickly transformed into mini-obituaries to the towering founder of the acclaimed isicathamiya group as soon as the South African mainstream media broke the news around 0830 (GMT+2). Obituaries from government officials, music industry insiders, long-time friends and regular citizens followed.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I have just heard about the passing of our close family friend Joseph Shabalala this morning.\u00a0 Joseph and his group Ladysmith Black Mambazo used to rehearse in our home in Clermont Township in the sixties<\/em>,” read a Facebook post from veteran journalist, activist and musician Eugene Skeef. He went on to share memories from the recording of a BBC Radio3 programme<\/a> <\/span>where Shabalala took him to the farm of his birth in the Thukela Valley and spoke about herding cows as a young boy, among other tales. “This experience, he says, enabled him to develop and refine the sound of Africa’s most famous singing group<\/em>,” <\/span><\/span>reads<\/span><\/a><\/span> p<\/span>art of the accompanying write-up to the programme.<\/span><\/p>\n

“We would like to extend our condolences on the passing of Joseph Shabalala who was the founder of the group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Ulale ngoxolo Tata ugqatso lwakho ulufezile.\u00a0 #RIPJosephShabalala<\/em>,” read the message from the official South African government’s <\/span>Twitter\u00a0 account<\/span><\/a>, while the <\/span>presidency’s\u00a0 website<\/span><\/a> shared a message stating that Shabalala’s death “is a terribly sad\u00a0 moment for a nation and a world in whose ears the isicathamiya and mbube crafted by Ladysmith\u00a0 Black Mambazo will ring for generations to come.<\/em>”\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The president, Cyril Ramaphosa, is reported to have paid a courtesy visit to the Shabala in 2019. Today also coincides with the day former president Nelson Mandela was released from Robben Island.\u00a0
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