Ladysmith Black Mambazo

Ladysmith Black Mambazo first burst to international attention when Paul Simon showcased their breathtaking, call-and-response choral music on his 1986 album, Graceland.

But this South African all-male vocal group had been around for decades before Simon showed up, and they’ve remained a global-scale musical institution ever since.

The concept for the ensemble literally came to founding member Joseph Shabalala in a dream: The singer from the KwaZulu-Natal region claimed that, in the early ’60s, he was visited multiple times in his slumber by an ensemble of robed children singing in perfect harmony.