Isicathamiya

of Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Isicathamiya developed in South Africa in the early 20th century, starting out as Mbube. Many Africans were taken far away from home and travelled by trail to work in mines. After working for six days, the workers would entertain themselves by singing in to Sunday morning. When they returned back home, the musical tradition also returned home (Ladysmith Black Mambazo, n.d.). 

Mbube translates to ‘lion’, and was a genre derived from the release of the song ‘Mbube’ by Solomon Linda, a man from Natal. In 1948, The Weavers made the song internationally famous as ‘Wimoweh’ (an angelicized pronunciation of Mbube), and later popularized in 1960 by Miriam Makeba as ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. 

Mbube is performed and sung loudly and powerfully, with a boisterous ‘bombing’ sound. However, with the formation and rise of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Isicathamiya developed and is celebrated as a softer, and lighter rendition, and focuses more on the achievement of a harmonious blend between the voices (Gorlinski, 2016). 

Isicathamiya derives from the zulu word -cathama, which means walking softly, or treading carefully, in a catlike fashion, and this refers to the nature of the tightly-choreographed dance moves, keeping the performers on their toes. 

Ladysmith Black Mambazo popularized Isicathamiya between the 1970’s and the 1980’s. Although they were established as South Africa’s most successful singing group, in 1986, Paul Simon released his album ‘Graceland’ which incorporated the group’s rich alto/tenor/bass harmonies. This not only gained Ladysmith Black Mambazo international recognition, but also exposed the genre of Isicathamiya internationally. Consequently, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, Isicathamiya became the most recognized South African musical genre (Ladysmith Black Mambazo, n.d.).