What do the 1960s have in common with Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens? Mbaqanga and the Evolution of Modern Dance.

Mahotella Queens are still performing internationally even today and are excellent, colourful and energetic as ever and one of the most underrated acts in their own country. Their name Mahotella is Zulu for ‘Hotels’ (borrowed word) and they got it from touring and hotel hopping before they hit big time. Go to a lot of countries worldwide, if they don’t asked you about Lucky Dube, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Miriam Makeba or Brenda Fassie they will ask you about Mahotella Queens.

By the 1960s, the saxophone was commonplace in jive music. This meant that white fans were unable to see their favorite musicians perform, because they were restricted to playing in the townships. The genre was called sax jive and later mbaqanga. A bass and vocal driven dance genre Mbaqanga literally means dumpling but implies home-made and was coined by Michael Xaba, a jazz saxophonist who did not like the new style. The early 1960s also saw performers like bassist Joseph Makwela and guitarist Marks Mankwane add electric instruments and marabi and kwela influences to the mbaqanga style, leading to a funkier and more African sound. Mbaqanga developed vocal harmonies during the very early 1960s when groups like The Skylarks and the Manhattan Brothers began copying American vocal bands, mostly doo wop

On The David Letterman Show, 1990

Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde is perhaps the most influential and well-known South African "groaner" of the twentieth century who became the leading voice and the thorn amongst roses in Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens. Marks Mankwane and Joseph Makwela's mbaqanga innovations evolved into the more danceable mgqashiyo sound when the two joined forces with Mahlathini and the then new female group Mahotella Queens, in Mankwane's backing group Makhona Tsohle Band (also featuring Makwela along with saxophonist-turned-producer West Nkosi, rhythm guitarist Vivian Ngubane, and drummer Lucky Monama). The Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens/Makhona Tsohle outfit recorded as a studio unit for Gallo Record Company, to great national success, pioneering mgqashiyo music all over the country to equal success.

1967 saw the arrival of Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje, an mgqashiyo female group that provided intense competition for Mahotella Queens. Both groups were massive competitors in the jive field, though the Queens usually came out on top.