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Ladysmith Black Mambazo at the 2005 Santa Fe Jazz & International Music Festival

Joseph Shabalala grew up on a farm near the town of Ladysmith in South Africa. Apartheid, the mandated separation and inequality of the races, was very much in force. Working conditions were inhuman, and much of the work was in mines. As a young worker in Durban, Shabalala heard Saturday night choruses of miners singing in Zulu in the Isicathamiya style. A choral singer himself, Shabalala heard a new harmony in his dreams, and awakened saying, "This is the sound that I want and I can teach it to my guys."

Ladysmith Black Mambazo is Shabalala's dream made true -- "Ladysmith" for his hometown, "Black" because the strongest animal on the farm is the black ox, and "Mambazo," the Zulu word for "axe." Singing in South Africa is a competitive sport. An axe chops down the competition.

Paul Simon introduced Ladysmith to the world on Graceland (one of Dee Dee Bridgewater's favorite albums). A highlight of this JazzSet comes from Graceland -- "Homeless," a song for 1986 -- and 2005, as well: "Father Almighty, please help us. We sleep on cliffs. Strong winds destroyed our homes. We are homeless."

Almost a decade later, when Nelson Mandela received the Nobel Peace Prize, Ladysmith Black Mambazo traveled to Oslo with him and also sang at his presidential inauguration. At the 2005 Santa Fe Jazz and International Music Festival, where we recorded this JazzSet, the governor of New Mexico and the festival gave Ladysmith a silver platter, in recognition and deep appreciation for their contributions to music and humanity.

The singers kid Joseph about being an old man, but his beautiful voice still leads the group and the compositions are his.