What is Iscathamiya?

Isicathamiya is a Zulu style from South Africa that's been popular for decades and its captured the world's attention in 1986 when Paul Simon leavened his seminal Graceland album with the music's rousing harmonies. But Isicathamiya is part of a long evolution of Zulu choral music, and has deep roots. Based partly on the four part harmony of 19th Century African American jubilee singing, Zulu choral music has undergone steady re-Africanization. Nurtured in fierce, men's singing competitions in South Africa's mining hostels. Isicathamiya's most successful popularizers Ladysmith Black Mambazo came together in the town of Ladysmith in the early '60s under Joseph Shabalala.