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| Images courtesy of Pop Twist |
The new documentary film formerly titled Music is My Life
now retitled Beyond Graceland: Ladysmith Black Mambazo whose founder
joined forces with Paul Simon to create the 1986 album Graceland is a
bit of a frustration for fans of both Simon’s work and particularly that of the
South African male choral singing group Ladysmith Black Mambazo. While clearly a comprehensively researched
and detailed biographical account of Joseph Shabalala who founded the group in
1960 and became a staple of South African cultural heritage through indigenous isicathamiya
as well as mbube music, the documentary with English opening credits and some
occasional interviews with Whoopi Goldberg, Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton and Paul
Simon is otherwise primarily spoken in unsubtitled untranslated Zulu
language. Reportedly this was not a
mistake in the distribution plan and reflects the filmmaker’s intentions, but
why on Earth would you tempt consumers with such a bait and switch? Really, does 75% of it need to be unsubbed so
no one but native speakers can follow it?
Entire passages of this go on for minutes on end without English and if
you put the subtitles on it says ‘non-English dialogue’. What gives?
From the few bits few and far between that are in English,
we gather portions of the band’s history with some interviews with Joseph
Shabalala in English, but there are many others with friends and relatives
talking presumably about his upbringing that leave us wanting, begging to
understand. Maybe the first documentary
release of its kind where its makers intend on keeping you at arm’s length, we gather
Shabalala in the Ladysmith district formed the group and then reevaluated it
again in 1964 further perfecting the sound and softness of the singing with
vocals that were hard to pick up on the microphone at times. Deriving their name from his hometown
Ladysmith, KwaZulu-Natal the black ox and Mambazo which means ‘axe’ in the Zulu
language, it was symbolic of the group’s ability to sort of ‘chop down’
competition. Anyway, after 1967 they began
making sound recordings before singing on with the Gallo Record Company in
1972, working their way towards becoming professional singers.
Then circa 1985 Paul Simon entered their lives with Graceland
and the album all but paved the way for their further international success
against a South African cultural boycott.
They further landed a deal with Warner Brothers Records in the US and recorded
their first album Shaka Zulu which won the Grammy for Best Traditional
Folk Recording in 1988. Further still,
they appeared in the Michael Jackson film Moonwalker notably in the Smooth
Criminal dance number and later they sang on the soundtrack for Coming
to America. Amid their success,
tragedy struck when Shabalala’s brother Headman was shot and killed by a white
off-duty security guard, prompting the exit of two members before Joseph
Shabalala recruited three of his sons into the group. Later they appeared on Dolly Parton’s album Treasures
and further performed on network television with the singer. Sometime in the year 2000, a short film On
Tiptoe: Gentle Steps to Freedom about the group was released to an Academy
Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject though sadly losing out to Big
Mama.
It is worth mentioning this documentary as we are, in a way,
still waiting for the definitive documentary film on the art and life of Ladysmith
Black Mambazo. Yes I realize it is
right in front of me with Beyond Graceland but for some reason beyond
comprehension, the licensing deal is such that most of it is spoken in another
language without subtitles or dubbing, sadly leaving us in the dark in what
could’ve been a really engaging and comprehensive nonfiction experience. For the life of me, for anyone, why on Earth
would you release a documentary for people to purchase with their hard-earned money
only to yank the rug out from under them by putting unwanted earplugs into our
canals? It literally makes no sense and
prompted me to ask if there was something wrong with the disc. It’s not fair we don’t get to join in with
the surviving members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo in their ruminations
about the past and what lies ahead for the future. A terribly tragically missed opportunity for
no other reason than, well, maybe you can explain it?
--Andrew Kotwicki
