Washabalal’ Umhlaba: Earth Song

Ladysmith Black Mambazo may have cornered the global market for male gospel singing from southern Africa, but we should not overlook the consistent excellence of Black Umfolosi, their neighbours and spiritual cousins from Zimbabwe. Over the course of 15 albums – the best known of which is probably Unity (World Circuit,1990) – the group, founded by Thomeki Dube and Sotsha Moyo in Bulawayo in 1982, has pursued an unwavering devotion to a velvet-voiced a capella singing that combines African roots with the choral traditions of the Christian church.

On Washabalal’ Umhlaba (which translates with climate change concern as ‘The Earth Perishes’) the group are just five strong, so their harmonies are not as rich and creamy as LBM; instead a greater emphasis is placed on individual voices behind the lead of Moyo. The self-referential opener ‘Coming Your Way’ is a prayer that sets out the group’s mission. ‘Usemafini’ is a beautiful call-and-response gospel song that glorifies the ‘Creator of Heaven and Earth, the Beginning and the End.’ Yet it’s not quite all a capella and ‘Ihoso Beat’ offers a percussive interludes of tribal drums, shakers, hand-claps and whistles based on a traditional Kalanga dance.