A news clip early in the film introduces the group as "Nelson Mandela's favorite band," and the opening sequence also contains short moments from interviews with Oprah Winfrey, Dolly Parton, Whoopi Goldberg and Paul Simon, a good way to lead us back into the music, from a place of familiarity. Once the film is past the introduction, it focuses on the origins of the type of music the group sang and on the music itself, pointing out how there were some jazz influences heard in it. The film then focuses on interviews with the musicians and those who worked with them. Ladysmith, by the way, is the name of the town where they were born and raised. Some of those interviewed talk about how there was always a message of hope in the songs, even if the musicians couldn't tackle certain subjects overtly. The film includes footage of the group recording, and there is an interview with John Lindemann, recording engineer, who talks about how the problem he had was in relation to their singing so softly.
The group was already beginning to be known in other countries even before Paul Simon reached out to them. The film mentions a performance in Germany in 1981. But of course the impact their appearance on Graceland had on their popularity is critical, and the film does get into that. I love the footage of Joseph Shabalala talking about getting the call and being surprised that the group had any fans in the United States, and recalls Paul Simon saying he was the only one. There is a good deal of old footage of Paul Simon too, and plenty of information on the writing and recording of "Homeless." The film also includes an interview with Dolly Parton, who talks about her recordings of "Peace Train" and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" with the group. Somehow I still have neither of those albums in my collection; I need to see about fixing that soon.
I suppose it wouldn't be a proper music documentary if there weren't some tragedies and hardships along the way, and the film includes news footage related to the murder of band member Headman Shabalala in 1991. Joseph says the rest of the group didn't want to continue singing after that, which is understandable. And a decade later, Joseph's wife Nellie was shot and killed too. But the focus is on the music. One person interviewed says: "One amazing thing about Black Mambazo, it sounds like a ball of energy. There are so many different parts and so many different voices and timbres, but they manage to give a blend like one sound. It's just about unity." He goes on to say that a lesson is there to be learned from the sound of the group, one that "could resolve problems in society." Indeed. And there is so much hope in the music, in their sound.
The one big problem is not with the film itself, but with its presentation. No English subtitles are provided for the interviews conducted in the Zulu language. Usually those are provided without the viewer having to make any adjustments on the DVD player. But even when I added the English subtitles from the DVD's menu, those only worked for the dialogue that was in English. So we're missing quite a lot of information that is being presented. There are entire interviews where not one word is understood by those of us not fluent in the Zulu language. I was surprised that no translations were provided.
But again, the documentary contains so much beautiful music. While I was frustated that I was missing the information on, say, Joseph's last marriage and his death, I was still left with a positive and hopeful feeling. And isn't that what most of us are in need of these days? As for special features, the DVD contains just the film's trailer.
Beyond Graceland: Ladysmith Black Mambazo was released on DVD on January 20, 2026 through MVD Visual.
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