Success can bring its own problems, even for the best-known vocal group in Africa. Ladysmith Black Mambazo's remarkable journey from South African townships to world concert halls was helped initially by their involvement with Paul Simon's Graceland project in the mid-1980s. In Britain in the late-1990s, there was a less-expected boost for the a capella male harmony team when their music was featured in a Heinz commercial, resulting in a top 20 single and sales of over a million for the subsequent album. They earned a new mass audience here - and a dilemma. What should they do next, and how down-market should they go?
On CD, the solution has been to try a bit of everything. Last year's experimental and mostly dreadful The Chillout Sessions was an unsuccessful attempt to recapture the youth market. It has been followed, thankfully, by a glorious return to form with the new album Raise Your Spirit Higher, a subtle, sad-edged set that is influenced, inevitably, by the murder last year of Nellie Shabalala, the wife of Ladysmith's leader, Joseph.
On stage, the problems remain and, at Reading, Ladysmith proved why they are still so special and why they could still go wrong. This was the start of an extensive British tour, and at one point the singers turned to the audience to ask where they were performing. Given their schedule, and the events of the past year, it is extraordinary they still sound as fine and enthusiastic as they do. Shabalala is still Ladysmith's main soloist, and the other nine singers (who now include four of his sons) lined up behind him, balancing his soulful ballads or traditional dance songs with their exquisite and perfectly timed harmony work, grunts, clicking noises and sighs. Songs from the new album were included, but the overall mood was more cheerful and populist, with love songs in English matched against the old Graceland favourite Homeless. Just to prove that they haven't moved away from their roots, they introduced a young duo to open the show. Guitarist Fourteen Shabalala (the one Shabalala on stage not related to Joseph) and accordion player Shongshilo provided a simple, powerful and gutsy reminder that traditional township music is still very much alive.
Now for the bad news. The sections of truly great singing were matched with more comedy routines than before and more dancing. The high kicks and rapid-fire moves of traditional Zulu dance have always been part of the Ladysmith experience, but here the individual demonstrations were dragged out and members of the audience invited on stage. Is this really the price of success in middle England?
· At the Corn Exchange, Cambridge (01223 357851), tonight, then touring.
