Bad things, good things

By Tony W. Cartledge

BR Editor

I'm a fan of inspiring stories about people who face troubles or tragedy, but persevere and overcome. They choose not to live as victims, or merely as survivors, but as partners working with God to transform bad times into hopeful days.

Joseph Shabalala is one of those people. More than 40 years ago, during the dark days of apartheid in his native South Africa, the farm boy-turned-factory worker assembled a singing group of men, hoping to enter local singing competitions. They chose the name Ladysmith Black Mambazo, with "Ladysmith" deriving from Shabalala's rural hometown, and "Black" as an emblem of the ox, whose strength was legendary. "Mambazo" is the Zulu word for "ax." On the strength of their singing, the men from Ladysmith planned to chop down the competition all around Kwazulu Natal - and they did.

The group developed such tight, rich harmonies that no one else could touch them, and they were eventually banned from the competitions.

Most Americans first heard the group when Paul Simon introduced them as backup singers on his 1986 "Graceland" album. Simon then produced the group's "Shaka Zulu" recording, which won a Grammy in 1987.

The men of Ladysmith Black Mambazo sing in both Zulu and English, combining traditional coal-miners' music with the sentiments of Christian gospel. Shabalala became a Christian in the 1960's, and committed Mambazo to "to bring this gospel of loving one another all over the world."

The group produced more than 40 recordings by 1999, but their next release did not come without struggle. In 2002, Shabalala's beloved wife, Nellie, was murdered by masked assailants in the parking lot of their church. Shabalala said he could have given way to anger, grief and suspicion, but found refuge in God's Spirit. "Bad things happen," he said, "and the only thing to do is to raise your spirit higher."

Fittingly, the group's new release is entitled "Raise Your Spirit Higher - Wenyukela," English and Zulu translations of the same sentiment.

Mambazo's harmonies are as tight as ever, and their sentiments even richer. They have transformed trial into triumph.

North Carolina Baptists have an opportunity to bring good from evil by participating in "The Elliott Project," an effort to deliver 1,600 life-promoting health kits to the people of Iraq in memory of our own Larry and Jean Elliot, who gave their lives in an effort to bring health and hope to that ravaged land (see page 1).

As Shabalala would sing, "Wenyukela!"

And our spirits will not be the only ones lifted higher.