Early in South Africa's apartheid era, a group of South African men formed a vocal troupe to share the beauty of their culture with the world. They wanted to spread messages of peace, love and harmony.
More than 40 years and two Grammy Awards later, the members of Ladysmith Black Mambazo are still making music and teaching audiences about the nation they love.
Saturday night at the Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, the group of nine singers entertained more than 1,400 people with songs from their 40 albums.
The show, led by founder Joseph Shabalala, was filled with inspirational lyrics and energetic dancing.
The singers interacted with the audience, at one point challenging the crowd to a sing-off.
During the second-to-last song of the night, Mambazo members were treated to a show when Kieran McGrail, 25, left his front-row seat and joined the group on stage. Two other audience members followed him, and the three tried their best to dance like the South Africans, who looked on and smiled from behind their microphones.
After the show, McGrail explained his spontaneous decision.
"I like dancing like a freak, and the stairs were right in front of me, so I had no choice," he said.
Over the years, Mambazo has collaborated with artists like Paul Simon, Sarah McLachlan and Melissa Etheridge, and was invited to sing at former South African President Nelson Mandela's inauguration in 1994.
Chiaka Nwoga, a fourth-year health science student at UF, said she was impressed by Mambazo's performance Saturday.
Born in Nigeria, Nwoga said she has been wanting to see Mambazo live ever since she saw the group in a video when she was 6 years old
She said Mambazo sang her favorite songs and that she was excited to get an impression of the singers' personalities.
"It's been a while since I've seen a performance this good," she said.
