Mahotella Queens

Background

The Mahotella Queens were formed in 1964 when Rupert Bopape joined Gallo Africa to form a new 'black music' subsidiary, later named Mavuthela Music. His first group was a revolving line-up of female session singers that recorded under various pseudonyms, featuring Bopape's discovery Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde as a male soloist and backed by a house band later christened Makgona Tsohle. Several of the group's 78rpms were issued as the Mahotella Queens, which became the most recognizable to listeners. Their sound developed heavily on mbaqanga, a type of upbeat jive music fusing traditional African rhythms with modern electric instrumentation, and contrasting up-tempo female harmony with powerful male bass vocal.

In 1972, Mahlathini and some of the Queens resigned from Gallo over a dispute with Bopape about unfair treatment, spending the rest of the decade recording for competing labels. Bopape recruited new singers to keep the brand alive, including groaner Robert 'Mbazo' Mkhize and soprano Emily Zwane.

The group maintained popularity through the 1970s, boosted by the support of Abafana baseQhudeni. In the 1980s, a reunion of five original Queens with Mahlathini created the supergroup Mahlathini Nezintombi Zomgqashiyo, which produced albums and toured into the late 1980s. A successful tour of France in 1987 comprising three original Queens – Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola – paved the way for an international touring career lasting across four decades.