Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s iconic founder Mr. Joseph Tshabalala has died. His death was revealed to the world on Tuesday Feb. 11, 2020. The group became the first South African group to win a Grammy award in 1987.

It was in 2008 when Ladysmith Black Mambazo had one of their captivating live performances at State Theater in Pretoria. They ascended the stage clad in their familiar traditional regalia. Belting out one hit after the next, every time with exhilarating synchronized moves and vocals.

They would take a short break. Upon their return, it did not show they had left the arena. They set the theater alight with song, dance and zest. The coordinated crescendo of every song was amazingly great. It was admirably a privilege to be in that festive milieu.

These were the global artists who had and would leave audiences spellbound with their talents and finesse. They had come home to the seat of government which nearly nipped the careers in the bud. Tshabalala was in the forefront of this accomplished group not in name only but in masterly artistry, deservedly so.

This iconic choral-music-lead singer and award-winning Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Tshabalala passed away in a Pretoria hospital after a  battle with illness.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo @therealmambazo twitted: “Bhekizizwe Joseph ShabalalaOur Founder, our Teacher and most importantly, our Father left us today for eternal peace. We celebrate and honor your kind heart and your extraordinary life. Through your music and the millions who you came in contact with, you shall live forever.”

Mr. Tshabalala dropped the mic. in 2014 due to, among other things, ill-health.

The group, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, was formed in the dark ages of apartheid South Africa. Artists hardly thrived in that suppressing climate. However, Mr. Tshabalala’s group bucked the suffocating trend.

The Citizen quoted him saying “[W]hen I was a young boy I dreamt of becoming an educated person; maybe a teacher, doctor or something like that.”

In time, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that:

[h]e was forced to leave school at the age of 12 when his father died, working on the family farm and, later, in a local factory. In his spare time, he would sing with friends in a local group called the Blacks.”

The young boys when they get together, they started to sing the songs, until the mamas and the neighbours said, ‘Hey, do it again,'” the BBC continued.

The group traveled the world and entertained a legions of fans from far and wide with incredible aplomb. They carried the SA flag with unrelenting pride and verve.

One of their greatest world-offering “Homelands” that swept many-a-followers by storm.

According to Rolling Stone:

“Shabalala started the group in the early Sixties, but they first entered the consciousness of most Americans in 1986 when they appeared with Paul Simon on his groundbreaking LP Graceland.”

Further, the Rolling Stone reported that:

“Simon and Ladysmith Black Mambazo performing “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” at a Zimbabwe show in 1987 that was released as The African Concert.”

When their first-ever “Grammy Award” came, they were long in uber joyride by a mere nomination. The win was an icing on the scrumptious cake. Here they were in the milieu of the glitterati. Step-by-step with the glamorous galaxy of stars with the world eating out of their hands.

Little did they know that their novelty hobby would turn a golden standard of global proportions. Not so much because of self-doubt. But, because of their country’s divisive and oppressive leaders who tried their damndest for decades to smother a section of society for its own identity and originality.

Although time passed, the regime would not let loose of stranglehold on power. The passion and ambition spared the sublimely-gifted Joseph Tshabalala for all these years until he retreated six years ago.

The group’s unique melodies, sprinkled with a deft diverse age groups bound by common traditional roots, kept them together. Producing hits with universal appeal. after the other, without any laxity.

The remarkable icon’s journey in life has finally seen its last stretch. After all is said and done, the music, the group’s therapeutic sounds, stays and lives on.