In another episode of South African artists achieving amazing accomplishments globally, last night vocal group The Joy performed at Coachella alongside Doja Cat to open her headline performance after they were hand-selected by her as a guest. During their experinece, The Joy provided lead vocals alongside the American rapper on two of her tracks ‘Acknowledge Me’ and ‘Shutcho’ which was reimagined to incorporate lyrics in Zulu.
This monumental moment for the five-piece arrives on the heels of their recent single, ‘You Complete Me’ and news of their self-titled debut album which is out via Transgressive Records on June 21. Recorded live, in real time, at the renowned Church Studios in Crouch End, London and featuring no instruments or overdubs, the 11-track album is a thing of transcendental beauty thanks to the astonishing vocal talent of the group members – Pastor (Ntokozo Bright Magcaba), Duzie (Melokuhle Mkhungo), Guduza (Sphelele Hlophe), Sthombe (Phelelani Sithole) and Marcus (Sanele Ngcobo) – who have been together since meeting at school.
Growing up in a part of South Africa, where the Zulu tradition of a cappella singing is central to the cultural identity of its people and Ladysmith Black Mambazo have been worshiped for decades – their Grammy-winning success an authentication of the fact that the magic of isicathamiya music isn’t restricted to the townships where it flourished – The Joy’s harmonies hark back to yet another vocal tradition. Mbube means ‘lion’, which gives some indication of the elemental power its practitioners summon when bursting into song. This seems to be the lineage into which lead vocalist Duzie seems to be tapping when he cuts loose from the intonations of his co-travellers, as if compelled to commune with the ancestral spirits whose music he invokes.