“Somebody say ih hih ih hih ih. Somebody sing hello, hello, hello,” is probably one of the most recognised songs from the Grammy Award winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
As a child, Sibongiseni Shabalala watched his late father, Dr Joseph Shabalala lead the isicathamiya group to greatness. Music was his life and since then, he has become a servant for the arts and wants to affect change by growing the isicathamiya genre.
Since his father’s 2020 passing, Sibongiseni and the members of the award-winning internationally acclaimed isicathamiya group have been working on preserving his legacy.
And now as the continuation of the legacy that lives on, they are submitting the documentary about his father’s life for the 96th Annual Academy Awards, Oscars’ consideration. Titled Music is My Life, the documentary was selected by the National Film and Video Foundation for the International Feature Film submission.
“Doing a documentary about my father’s life and Ladysmith Black Mambazo was Carolyn Carew’s idea. We liked that idea, and they started shooting around 2014 and it took a while to shoot it. And seeing the finished product has evoked so many emotions because for years we have been part of it.”
Carolyn is a veteran filmmaker. She is the producer of Music is My Life and is also behind productions like Sew Winter in my Skin. It is a true-life drama based on John Kepe. He was an infamous thief in the Eastern Cape in the 1950s. The criminal mastermind lived, undetected, in the Boschberg caves for over a decade, collecting stolen items including over a hundred sheep, cooking utensils and clothes, redistributing the goods to the poor black and coloured community of Somerset East.
Read more | Ladysmith Black Mambazo honours founder Dr Joseph Shabalala
Speaking to Drum while in Johannesburg, Sibongiseni says it was fulfilling to watch his father’s work and dedication in ensuring that isicathamiya grows and becomes globally recognised.
Sibongiseni says his father was only 20 years old when he started the group that has now existed for over six decades and is a five-time Grammy Award winner. And when he started, Sibongiseni says, he didn’t look at what he would gain but focused on growing it.
“My father didn’t put himself first, but always put the culture and his country first. I am grateful that people also appreciate his amazing work, they complement his work and have seen the value and importance of his work. We were part of the doccie, so we didn’t see it, but when we watched it, it touched our hearts because we understood what he was trying to achieve, and seeing people appreciating the doccie is a bonus.”
Sibongiseni says they hope that they will get good feedback from their submission and that the doccie can get to the nominations.
“We wish that it gets to the nomination because what is done by the group and my father’s dream wasn’t meant for the group and him only, but was meant to be shared but South Africans. When he started, he wanted black people to be respected for what they can create and contribute to the creative industry.”
He says the doccie focuses on his father’s life and his music group and takes people to his journey of the group started and ended up being known internationally.
“As his children, we are holding the fort with the pride and we want to work hard to keep his dream alive. "We were fortunate as his sons to be part of the iconic group and work with him, besides him raising us and teaching us how to sing. We joined the group when we were young and that helped us absorb his purpose and vision for the group. This makes it easy for us to continue with the dream even though he is no longer with us, because we got a clear understanding of his wishes and dream for the group, and we accepted that.”
Read more | 9 iconic pictures of Joseph Shabalala’s life on stage
Sibongiseni says they recently shot a campaign video encouraging people to vote in the next elections. Growing up during the apartheid regime, he says black people didn’t have much power and now that they have it, they must maximize it.
“We grew up in a time where black people had it hard, and musicians such as my father, Hugh Masekela, Mirriam Makeba, and others played a pivotal role in fighting for people’s rights to vote. So, we thought we should also encourage the youth to go vote and be part of the making change in the country. The artists I have mentioned started being active in the change they want to see in the country from an early age.”
When they are not making music, they are on a tour, called the Legacy Tour, keeping their father’s dream alive. They started their Legacy Tour in May, it kickstarted in Joburg after they started creating The Ladysmith Black Mambazo Mobile Academy.
“My father had a dream of building Black Mambazo Music Academy that will preserve all South African genres and teach young kids and have a background of South African genres. He wanted to create a hub that would give kids access to all kinds of genres that exist in South Africa. That is why we started the mobile academy to build on that dream, we are at the phase where we are promoting this academy and the kids that we discovered and recorded. We were in Durban in September, November we are performing at Artscape in Cape Town and in December we are closing the tour at the State Theatre in Pretoria.”
