When Paul Simon released "Graceland," his 1986 album exploring South African music, he created a firestorm in musical circles.

For one, he recorded the album during the years of apartheid in South Africa, despite a United Nations boycott. Some African Americans charged that Simon, a white pop star, was exploiting black and South African culture.

The controversy about that iconic album has since settled, yet Ladysmith Black Mambazo, the choral group featured on "Graceland," still praises Simon for shining a spotlight on South African music.

"Instead of seeing him as stealing the music, he was promoting the music," said Ladysmith Black Mambazo singer Albert Mazibuko.

"By that time, no one was singing it here," said Thambanqua Shabalala, 35, who joined the group in 1993. "He opened the gates."

If not for Simon -- and Ladysmith Black Mambazo -- South African a cappella musical styles might still be overlooked throughout the musical world. Since "Graceland's" release, the group has continued to perform the vocal style of traditional Zulu harmonizing -- the style known as isicathamiya and mbube -- to the world. The group will perform in Ogden March 20.

The nine-man group was founded by Thambanqua's father, Joseph Shabalala, in the town of Ladysmith in the early 1960s, a time of tension and violence between whites and blacks in apartheid-era South Africa. "When I grew up in Ladysmith, you weren't allowed out after 5," said Mazibuko, 61, who has been a member of the group since the beginning.

But Joseph Shabalala had a vision for the group, which won many competitions. In 1973, the group released its first album, "Amabutho," on the African independent label Gallo Records. It became the first record by black South Africans to receive gold disc certification.

"When I grew up, I thought of Joseph as my hero," said Mazibuko, who is related to the Shabalalas, the family providing the majority of the singers. "He was a singer, a good stick-fighter, and good with the ladies."

"My father is my role model," Thambanqua said.

But despite success before and after "Graceland," apartheid still made the singers second-class citizens. "There were a lot of boycotts when I was trying to go to school," Thambanqua said. "You'd open your eyes and see the soldiers, and you could smell the tear gas. ... We were fighting for our freedom."

Apartheid ended in 1991. Nelson Mandela, shortly after his release from a 27 years in prison, proclaimed Ladysmith Black Mambazo as "South Africa's cultural ambassadors." The group proudly accompanied Mandela to the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo, Norway, in 1993 and sang at his historic presidential inauguration in May 1994.

While Joseph Shabalala is still leader of the group, younger generations of the Mazibuko and Shabalala families are now performing and helping to keep alive the traditional music of their Zulu heritage. It's important to the members that the black children of South Africa, who never knew apartheid, also do not lose touch with isicathamiya and mbube .

"Now, [children] are going back and trying to learn," Mazibuko said. "It's interesting how much interest there is. History is a beautiful thing, and culture is a beautiful thing."

Thambanqua has been tapped by his father to lead the future incarnation of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. "There's no way this music can die," he said.

dburger@sltrib.com