UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance to Live Stream Ladysmith Black Mambazo

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) with the generous collaboration of KCRW presents is elated to announce Ladysmith Black Mambazo LIVE this Thursday, March 26, at 9 pm PDT which can be seen on Facebook Live and YouTube Live and heard on KCRW.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo was able to perform their concert to an empty Royce Hall last week before safely returning to South Africa amid the escalating COVID-19 realities we all face. CAP UCLA recorded their performance just before increased measures came into place. While not the same as a live experience, we do believe that the spirit of the moment is intact and so too the care that went into the recording of this now virtual and historic performance.

In early March, Ladysmith Black Mambazo was en route to the U.S. to resume their tour, which had already been rescheduled due to the death of their founder, Joseph Shabalala. Upon the group's arrival they were met with a series of canceled performance dates on their tour necessitated by the COVID-19 public health crisis. Despite this unfortunate turn of events and the tremendous impacts on our own programming, we brought Ladysmith to L.A. during their interrupted tour so they could be amongst friends while weathering the uncertainty that has gripped us all.

Before the "Safer at Home" order was issued by our local and state governments, and while ensuring plenty of safe space for all involved on the production crew, Ladysmith Black Mambazo performed the concert on stage on March 16th-per their original production design-to an empty Royce Hall for three camera operators, a few staff and a modest yet passionately committed crew.

Additional resources and information about UCLA's response to COVID-19 can be found at UCLA's COVID-19 website.