The Mahotella Queens
| The Mahotella Queens | |
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 Mahotella Queens, 2010 |
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| General information | |
| Genre (s) | Vocal group, Mbaqanga , Mqashiyo |
| founding | 1964 |
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| Current occupation | |
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| former members | |
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As a three to five-member vocal group, the Mahotella Queens have been one of the best-known representatives of the Mbaqanga , a popular South African style of music, which they enrich with polyphonic harmony singing and a fast dance.
Band history
The Mahotella Queens was initially just a name under which recordings for the Gallo Record Company with various studio singers were released. Five of these singers were regularly responsible for the melodies. Most of the members of the Mahotella Queens, including Hilda Tloubatla , were therefore already working as studio singers before 1963, recording backing tracks for artists of the Gallo label.
The actual formation as a group came around 1963/1964 when Rupert Bopape , a songwriter and talent scout at Gallo, initially invited Tloubatla, whom he had heard singing at the South African Broadcast Corporation , to work with him. Mildred Mangxola, then 19, followed a little later . After the group was completed - usually Nunu Maseko, Ethel and Francesca Mngomezulu and Nobesuthu Mbadu are also mentioned as singers in the early phase of the Mahotella Queens - Bopape brought the singers with the "King of Groaners", Simon Mahlathini Nkabinde and a fully "electrified" one “Instrumental group under the name Makgona Tsohle Band , together. Together they developed a style of music that was made up of township jazz, Mbube a cappella singing and some soul and was given the name Mbaqanga.
Hilda Tloubatla remained leader of the group in the 1960s and early 1970s, which achieved a first hit in 1964 with Thoko Ujola Nobani (new recording in 1994 under the title Thoko ) in collaboration with the bass part of Mahlathini. In this composition, the group had other hits under various names, including Soweto Stars, Izintombi Zomgqashiyo or Mahotella Queens, throughout the 1960s, mostly on Gallo's Motella label, including Sengikhala Ngiyabaleka , Sikhululekele , Uyavuth Umlilo and Umcolo Kawupheli . Many of these songs were re-recorded in 1988 for the internationally released album Thokozile .
In 1971 the group disbanded temporarily because the members had to take care of family and children. In the meantime, the Makgona Tsohle Band played with a male vocal group, Abafana Baseqhudeni, and Mahlathini switched the record company (EMI) to continue recording with two new groups, the Mahlathini Girls, his own backing singers and Ndlondlo Bashise (The Mahlathini Guitar Band) . West Nkosi , the saxophonist and penny whistle player of the Makgona Tsohle Band, became a producer at Gallo, where he brought a then unknown choir called Ladysmith Black Mambazo to the label in 1972 .
The Mahotella Queens got together again in 1975, initially only to do an advertising shot. Material from this period was released on VHS cassette and DVD under the title Mahlathini, Mahotella Queens and Makgona Tsohle Band: Mbaqanga at its Best! (GMPV 9). The group then released their first album without Mahlathini, Marriage is a Problem (re-released in 1990).
The Gallo record company has meanwhile produced recordings under the name Mahotella Queens with five of the less prominent singers from the Queens environment, which then consisted of Emily Zwame ( Brakpan ), Beatrice Ngcobe ( Durban ), Thandi Radebe (Dube / Soweto ), Thandi Nkosi (Emdeni) / Soweto) and Caroline Kapentar ( Bloemfontein ). The male partners in this line-up were Robert Mbazo Mkhize, Potatoes Mazambane and Joseph Mthimkhulu, who later formed the group Abafana Baseqhueni . The music was contributed by the Makhona Zonke Band . This line-up recorded two albums, Izibani Zomgquashiyo (1977) and Tsamaya Moratuoa (1980). The fans were not happy about it and the so-called "B Queens" broke up a little later.
After this experience, all female Mqashiyo groups of the Gallo label recorded under the name Mahotella Queens. This use of the name did not end until 1983.
Worldwide success
That year, West Nkosi brought together three members of the original line-up with Mahlathini to work in a permanent cast and to create a recognizable group from the name: Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Shawe Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola. The Makgona Tsohle Band, expanded by two musicians, also belonged to this fixed circle of musicians, and stylistically began at the point where work was discontinued in the 1970s, now supplemented by a stronger emphasis on the drums and the inclusion of the synthesizer in the sound image. After the group split again, the breakthrough came with the 1987 album Thokozile, which was released worldwide . Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens were in the nascent market for world music to a concept, not least promoted by the interest in South African music, which was then caused by two events: the CD and world tour Graceland by Paul Simon in 1986, and the Free Nelson Mandela concert 1988, which also saw Mahlathini And The Mahotella Queens.
In the following years the group's popularity grew with CD releases such as Paris-Soweto , Mbaqanga , Rhythm and Art , Stoki Stoki and Umuntu .
losses
In the mid-1990s it became apparent that Mahlathini's health no longer allowed him to continue working in the usual way. He gave his last concert with the Mahotella Queens in 1997. When West Nkosi suddenly died in a car accident in 1998, and a little later the guitarist of her band, Marks Mankwane, who had a special meaning for the sound, this led to a break, especially since Mahlatini also died of diabetes in June 1999 .
However, four months after Mahlatini's death, the Mahotella Queens returned to the stage as a solo act. With Sebai-Bai they recorded a successful CD in 2001, with which they paid tribute to their lost companions and wanted to give an outlook on how to continue working independently.
In 2005 Reign & Shine was the third album after Mahlathini's death; A significantly reduced band accompaniment and the focus on a cappella singing showed the strengths of the three singers and underlined their concern to convey small messages with the songs. In 2006 they performed at WOMAD . The following year they released the gospel album Siyadumisa . In 2010 they toured internationally with Pee Wee Ellis ' show Still Black, Still Proud: An African Tribute to James Brown . In the same year they performed with Hugh Masekela in Great Britain.
Discography (selection)
- The Mahotella Queens: Meet the Mahotella Queens (1964, LP: Gallo), released in South Africa
- The Mahotella Queens: Thoko Ujola Nobani (1964, LP: Motella / Gallo), released in South Africa
- The Mahotella Queens: Marriage Is A problem (1975, LP: Gumba Gumba / Gallo), released in South Africa
- The Mahotella Queens: Izibani Zomgqashiyo (1977, LP: Gumba Gumba / Gallo), published in South Africa; (1986, LP / CD: Shanachie Records ), re-release in Europe
- The Mahotella Queens: Best OF Mahotella Queens (1977, LP: Gumba Gumba / Gallo), released in South Africa
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Amaqhawe Omgqashiyo (1983, LP: Gallo), published in South Africa; (1984, LP / CD: Celluloid), republished in Europe and South Africa
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Pheletsong Ya Lerato (1984, LP: Gallo), published in South Africa; (1991, LP / CD: Celluloid), re-release in Europe and South Africa, The Lion Roars
- Mahotella Queens feat. Mahlathini: Thokozile (1986, LP: Gallo), published in South Africa; (1988, LP / CD: Earthworks, LP: Gallo), re-released in Europe and South Africa
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Paris - Soweto (1988, LP / CD: Celluloid / Mélodie France)
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Rhythm & kind (1990, LP / CD: Gallo, 1991: Shanachie)
- The Mahotella Queens: Women of The World (1993, LP / CD: Shanachie)
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: The Best of Mahlathini and The Mahotella Queens (1993: LP / CD: Gallo)
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Stoki Stoki (1994, CD: Gallo; 1996: CD: Shanachie)
- Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens: Umuntu (1999, CD: Gallo)
- The Mahotella Queens: Sebai bay (2001, CD: Label Bleu)
- The Mahotella Queens: The Best of The Mahotella Queens: The Township Idols (2003, CD: Wrasse)
- The Mahotella Queens: Reign and Shine (2005, CD: African Cream Music; CD: Wrasse)
- The Mahotella Queens: Kazet (2006, CD: Marabi Productions)
- The Mahotella Queens: Siyadumisa - Songs of Praise (2007, CD: Bula Music)
literature
- Robert Allington: The Nation of Voice . In: Simon Broughton, Hunter Ellingham, Richard Trillo (Eds.): World Music , Volume 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East. The Rough Guide . Rough Guides, London 1999, pp. 638-657, in particular pp. 640 u. 643
- Wolfgang Bender: Sweet Mother: Modern African Music . With a contribution to the music of Ethiopia by Andreas Wetter. Edition Trickster published by Peter Hammer Verlag , Wuppertal 2000, ISBN 3-87294-843-1 , pp. 282–284
- Jamie Renton: African Queens . In: fROOTS - Folk Roots Magazin, Aug./Sept. 2001, No. 218/219, pp. 28-33
Web links
- The Mahotella Queens at Afropop (English)
- The Mahotella Queens at Leopardmannen (English)