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The first Toronto
appearance in five years by the Zimbabwean acappela group Black
Umfolosi drew a sold out Friday night crowd to the Lula Lounge (and
prompted a last-minute second show to be added on the Sunday night).
The performers, kicking off their North American tour that night
soon made it clear to anyone unfamiliar with their live show just
why they had been so eagerly anticipated.
The joy and energy
they brought to the stage was clear and infectious. It was also
pretty impressive, given the long route they had taken took to get
to the Lula. Visa problems had delayed their arrival in Canada by a
day, and they landed the night before after a flights from Zimbabwe,
Johannesburg and London, England (for an extended, 8 hour layover).
They were up early the next morning, and at the CBC studios at 5:30
for a radio interview, off to CIUT to tape another one, and then
down the 401 to London for a noon concert, finally returning to
Toronto for the evening Lula show. .
They told us they were happy to be back in Toronto, and thought
they were ready for the Canadian winter, but said that although
Canada has “very nice people, you have very nasty weather”. The room
soon warmed up – and filled up – with their tight, four-part
harmonies, built around the strong bass voices of their Imbube style
acapella. The sound was so rich, that on occasion it made me think
of Phil Spector’s famed “wall of sound” productions from the 1960’s.
However, this wasn’t anything as solid as a wall – the sound moved,
floated, soared and dipped. Just as the audience began taking flight
with the lush harmonies, one or more of the group would suddenly
come out front onto the extended stage in some graceful – or highly
energetic – dance.
They sang in sung in both English and Ndebe, and the music covered a
spectrum of themes. There was a gospel number, thanking God for
sending us his son, and a raucous, humourous song asking a lover’s
forgiveness that had old fans in the audience cheering and laughing
as the singer pleaded, “Baby please come back”. After the song,
Thomeki Dube explained the method the singer would use to reach his
lover: go to the places where she goes, and then sing his plea to
her. “It’s our form of text messaging”.
Many in the audience joined in on “Mwari Komborera I Africa” (“God
Bless Africa”), the unofficial
“African National Anthem”. The audience in fact was a big part of
the whole show, filling the night with laughter, singing, woops, and
calls to the stage. Singer Sotsha Moyowould get the crowd to sing
along on song choruses; others sang many of the songs they knew.
Some people came on stage to dance with the group – one man started
a competition with one of the group to see who could kick higher.
Twice people brought the Zimbabwean flag on stage.
The group, like fellow Zimbabweans Oliver Mtukudzi and Thomas
Mapfumo brings a large measure of social consciousness to its music.
One song recounted the frustration a parent feels after the child he
or she built up, did everything for, now having grown to adulthood
“has nothing to do with me”.
The first set ended with one of their concert show pieces,
“Shosholoza” a song about the train that ran from Cape Town to
Cairo, and the painful story of the people from around Southern
Africa who boarded it to work, sweat and suffer in the South African
diamond mines. They started with the sound of the train: “Sho…sho…sho….
sho sho sho.. wooo … wooo.” But the song went on to recount the
hardships, poor pay and conditions of the mostly immigrant workers.
Then four of the group came out in miners’ helmets, coveralls
stripped to the waist, and gumboots to do their famed gumboot dance
to the rapid beat of hands slapping boots, thighs, leaping and
singing.
They finished the show with “Imbube” (“The Lion Sleeps Tonight”)
that had almost everyone in the club singing the chorus, arms up in
the air, house lights on. It was also the last song of their encore,
ending the night on a high point, and giving everyone enough energy
to face the “nasty weather” outside.
The group consisted of:
Sotsha Moyo
Thomeki Dube
Sifelani Sibanda
Alec Ncube
Zenzo Hlaseka
Note: this review also
appeared on
The Live Music Report website. |
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