Happy holidays! Electric Jive welcomes in Christmas week with a brand new volume of our popular Classic Mbaqanga Girl Groups series, delving into the music of South Africa's female groups of the 1960s and 1970s. In Volume 5 we take a look at the music of the Mahotella Queens, Mthunzini Girls, Jabavu Queens, Dima Sisters, Izintombi Zomoya, Manzini Girls, Dark City Sisters, Amagugu, Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje and other solid female ensembles from the mbaqanga era. What better way to celebrate the festivities?
Our first song is "Mphemphe Yalapisa", a recording credited to the Dima Sisters but actually recorded by the pool of singers who toured live as the Mahotella Queens. Talent scout and producer
Rupert Bopape usually devised several group names with the intention of creating a number of successful girl bands. From 1964, he had a team of session singers record under a variety of different 'band names' for
Gallo's
Mavuthela Music division, and after two massively successful singles released under the name Mahotella Queens, Bopape spend his time carefully building up a public profile and image for the group. Key to this publicity were close relationship with the influential African announcers on the SABC's
Radio Bantuservice:
K.E. Masinga,
Hubert Sishi and
Winnie Mahlangu. The line-up of the Queens solidified for impending tour dates, but Bopape continued to recruit more singers to the group before splitting it into two distinct sections around 1967 - the first continued to tour and record with
Mahlathini under the name Mahotella Queens (as well as recording under several other pseudonyms), and the other (newer) section recording and touring as the Mthunzini Girls with vocalist
John Moriri. In 1968, Bopape took another of the Queens' recording names - the Dima Sisters - and built it into a fully fledged group, and on the practice continued for several more years. It was a shrewd, cunning move designed not only to fill the Mavuthela roster with a selection of top girl groups, but to keep a steady supply of singers flowing through the Gallo building when the walkouts occurred: Bopape would recruit singers in their late teens or early twenties - they were young, naive and easily led by a father figure. A master A&R man, producer and songwriter, Bopape was also a hugely corrupting force who kept his artists ensconced in what could be best described as cheap labour. As the young ladies grew up, they realised his exploitative nature and would resign - only for Bopape to replace them with younger, more naive singers. It was that simple.
Talk of harsh pay, busy schedules and strict leadership is associated with almost all of the African music producers, who besides Bopape included Strike Vilakazi of Trutone Records; Cuthbert Matumba of Troubadour Records; then later Hamilton Nzimande of GRC's Isibaya Esikhulu Music; David Thekwane of Teal Records; and West Nkosi of Mavuthela Music to name just some. Exploitation was part and parcel of the industry, especially where young, vulnerable women were concerned. Depending on a producer's personal preference, they were either daughter figures or lovers, and any money doled out from the boss was certainly kept to an absolute minimum. Occasionally producers would succeed in poaching musical stars from their rivals with promises of healthy pay packets and better working conditions - and of course, neither actually materialised. The huge irony sticking out like a sore thumb is that the sounds that these ensembles made constitute some of the most delightful, energetic and exuberant music ever put down on record. Repetitive, repeated cycles of electrifying, lilting guitar hooks; superb female harmonies that alternated between smooth blended chorus to brazen wailing; and a solo lead male assuredly bellowing his way through the tunes. Girl groups and mbaqanga music became synonymous as the style ultimately became black South Africa's own answer to the Motown sound for a period of nearly twenty years.
Though producers liked to stick to recording mbaqanga tunes in the languages that sold the best - isiZulu and Sesotho, the two languages that the lion's share of African consumers spoke - songs were sometimes composed in Pedi (Sesotho sa Leboa), Tswana and Venda to ensure quotas were met. "Ka Tatampela" by the
Sweet Home Dames - actually the Mthunzini Girls featuring Virginia Teffo on lead vocal - is a fun, upbeat tune categorised as 'Pedi Vocal Jive' on the 45rpm label; "Emarabini" by the Mthunzini Girls - actually
Izingane zo Mgqashiyo led by Beauty Radebe - is labelled as 'Swazi Vocal Jive'. "Emarabini" is more or less a straight cover (without a credit for the original composer!) of "Siyo Ba Bamba" by Joseph Mthimkhulu and The Space Queens. The latter tune - included on
Ingwe Idla Ngamabala (CBS LAB 4005) which can be found
here - was a huge hit of 1967 for Isibaya Esikhulu, the African division of Gramophone Record Company. Though Rupert Bopape was certainly one of the most successful and influential producers on the scene at the time, it was
Hamilton Nzimande who was the only other producer to challenge Mavuthela's crown.
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At Isibaya Esikhulu, Nzimande carefully cultivated a hugely successful roster of excellent female vocalists, instrumental players, composers and arrangers.
Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje was Nzimande's first major success. The girl group, which eventually became a vehicle for the raspy crooning of lead singer
Sannah Mnguni (left), rose so high in prominence until the popularity battle was dominated only by two groups - itself and the Mahotella Queens. Both groups were capable of attracting a staggeringly phenomenal amount of fans who clamoured to township halls, theatres and football stadiums just to see the beautiful voices in person. Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje was supported by the excellent
Saul Tshabalala as their groaner and
Abafana Bentuthuko, the backing band led by the highly innovative Hansford Mthembu. Nzimande's Isibaya Esikhulu operation was so successful that it became the next port of call for artists who resigned from Mavuthela. The original Mthunzini Girls quit Mavuthela to become Izintombi Zentuthuko for Isibaya Esikhulu in 1969, but it wasn't the fairytale move that they had imagined, and pretty soon the act disintegrated. One of the singers, Windy Sibeko, stayed on for a while, multi-tracking her vocals for certain numbers such as "Mmona Oaka", released as the
S'modern Girls. In 1972, most of the original Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje members (and Hansford Mthembu) suddenly quit the Isibaya stable. Sibeko followed them to EMI, where they started up a new, even greater chapter of their musical career as
Amagugu.
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Under the orchestration of producer Bopape and flanked by a team of ingenious songwriters, musical arrangers and instrumentalists, the Mahotella Queens produced a long, wonderful stream of high quality vocal jive singles in conjunction with king Mahlathini during the mid-to-late 1960s. The Queens, easily the country's leading mbaqanga group at the time, perhaps benefitted from three distinct elements. The first was Mahlathini, hailed in the townships as 'Indoda Mahlathini' ('Mahlathini the main man'), a thoroughly decent and humble personality who possessed a showstopping stage persona and impressive vocal rawness. The second was
Hilda Tloubatla (right), who Bopape positioned as the main lead singer of the Queens during its early days in 1964. Tloubatla possessed a reassuringly smooth, deeply resonant and thick vibrato-heavy vocal, a beautiful sound that clearly screamed 'Mahotella Queens' to every
Radio Bantu listener. The third was the
Makgona Tsohle Band. Marks Mankwane was not only the group's acclaimed lead guitarist, he was also the principal musical arranger of the Queens' music. He applied hundreds of melodies, all of them fresh and new and not one like another, to the lyrics written by the group's members, ensuring every Mahotella release was crafted to perfection. "Shaluza Max", recorded by the Queens in 1969, is a contorted celebration of Marks' talent. His abilities (and those of the other Makgona Tsohle Band members) are celebrated more openly in 1973's "Abaculi Bethu", a sublime number not to be missed. Queens' alto vocalist Juliet Mazamisa is the composer of "Madulo", also recorded in 1969 and later covered by the legendary Letta Mbulu for her album
Culani Nami.
It's obvious that with the success of these big groups, young women were influenced into forming their own groups and moving up to Johannesburg to try out their luck. The
Temptation Kids were a group of singers trained by vocalist, producer and impresario
Roxy Jila who brought them up to Johannesburg from Durban around 1970 to record for Mavuthela. Inevitably, the lure of a luxury lifestyle, big pay-packets and plenty of public appearances sent the Kids on their merry way to a rival producer, a move that both left Jila miffed and the Kids completely empty handed. One of the gems from their shortlived career was "Mamezala", a strident up-tempo vocal jive describing the emotions felt by all when a young bride leaves her home after she is married.
“Kumnandi Ezayoni”, recorded by The Pride and released on the Smanje Manje label in 1976, is an odd one. From a musical perspective, the tune is not a traditional masterpiece but deserves inclusion simply because of its strange lineup: the groaner is
Mthunzi Malinga from Isibaya Esikhulu; the lead guitarist and arranger is Hansford Mthembu from EMI; and the vocalists are a strange mixture of Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje and Amagugu members. All of these artists were under contract to their respective companird during the recording of this and other songs for Mavuthela (the name ‘The Pride’ is a reference to the English translation of ‘Amagugu’). So-called ‘underground’ sessions for rival producers and companies were actually commonplace in the industry during this era - the artists had to eke out a living somehow - but it's unusual that both Malinga, Mthembu and manager
Titus Masikane are all given open and honest credit on the 45rpm label rather than fictional pseudonyms as would be the norm. One wonders if they were reprimanded but forgiven by their EMI bosses, as Amagugu and Mthembu continued to record for the company for a further three or four years.
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Four tracks in this compilation are from
Izintombi Zomoya, another of Mavuthela's female groups whose status was subservient to that of the Queens. But during the early 1970s, the group - backed by the
Zwino Zwino Boys, 'Zwino Zwino' being Venda for 'now now!' - began to develop some real attention for the first time. Thandi Nkosi was the face of the group for a while until she was promoted to the Mahotella Queens in 1972. She was replaced by Irene Mawela, whose voice glides sweetly and gracefully over the groans of
Robert 'Mbazo' Mkhize and the other singers in "Siphum' Enyakatho" and "Igama Lami (Libizw'emoyeni)". In 1975, the line-up was reshuffled again and Irene began to make recordings under her own name for the first name. Her position in Izintombi Zomoya was taken by Julia Yende, who had recently returned to Mavuthela after several years (she had been the original lead singer of the Mthunzini Girls until 1969). "Sponono Ngiyeke" highlights her soulful, mournful and bittersweet lead vocal.
The Mthunzini Girls was reinvigorated with a new lineup in 1969 and then again in 1971. That third incarnation quit in 1972 after being denied their touring fees and eventually found a new recording home at
Satbel in 1973. Under producer
C.B. Matiwane, John Moriri and the newly-named
Manzini Girls set to work recreating the magic they had worked up in the Gallo studios, complete with lead guitarist George Mangxola and the other members of his newly-named
Soweto Boys. "Isikhova", their first single for Satbel, sold four gold discs and two platinums. Astonishing sales figures do not necessarily translate into fortune for the music makers though, and by 1976 they had had enough of Satbel and quit to join Warner Music's new African operation led by guitarist-producer
Almon Memela. It was around this time that the popularity of vocal jive groups began to decline for the very first time. In desperate attempts to keep their groups relevant, producers reworked the mbaqanga format by introducing a keyboard into the band and changing the rhythm patterns to create a new sort of 'disco jive' sound. "Basali Basejoale Joale" by Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje represents a sort of 'last gasp' of the original mbaqanga sound, featuring two guitars - lead and rhythm - competing for the spotlight along with the obligatory organ. "Otla Ntswarela" by the Mahotella Queens is even more distinctly soul-infused, but strangely manages to create that new feel without even a trace of organ or electric piano. If one must choose a favourite from this strange era, "Woza Ungilande" by Izintombi Zomoya - complete with yet another new lineup led by Joana Thango - would have to be mine. It carries an effervescent pop arrangement seemingly at odds with the topic of prayer and church.
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Mbaqanga girl groups continued to enjoy relevance and popularity for several more years until they were finally eclipsed, first by all-male mbaqanga line-ups, then the solo stars of bubblegum music in the early 1980s. The joyous sounds of mbaqanga music vanished from the pop scene without trace.
Classic Mbaqanga Girl Groups - Vol. 5 delves back into the era when the genre ruled the roost with a selection of 30 female mbaqanga vocal classics. Hit the download link and be prepared to do some serious jiving. YEBO! :-)
CLASSIC MBAQANGA GIRL GROUPS - VOL. 5
COMPILED BY NICK LOTAY
01) DIMA SISTERS– MPHEMPHE YALAPISA (1967)
02) SWEET HOME DAMES– KA TATAMPELA (1968)
03) MTHUNZINI GIRLS– EMARABINI (1968)
04) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– MADULO (1969)
05) MAHLATHINI AND IZINTOMBI ZOMGQASHIYO– HAMBA MINYAKA (1970)
06) S’MODERN GIRLS– MMONA OAKA (1971)
07) DIMA SISTERS– SUKUNDI JEMULA (1969)
08) JABAVU QUEENS– SIDEDELENI (1968)
09) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– SHALUZA MAX (1969)
10) IZINTOMBI ZOMGQASHIYO– NAMHLA KUNGAMI (1970)
11) MASHALASHALA GIRLS– YANGENA INSIZWA (1971)
12) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– LESELESELE (1972)
13) TEMPTATION KIDS– MAMEZALA (1971)
14) MTHUNZINI GIRLS– SANGENA, SANGENA (1973)
15) DIMA SISTERS – BANTWANYANA AWU (1972)
16) IZINTOMBI ZOMOYA– SIPHUM’ ENYAKATHO (1973)
17) JOHN MORIRI & MANZINI GIRLS– TSWANG-TSWANG (1974)
18) IZINTOMBI ZOMOYA– IGAMA LAMI (LIBIZW’EMOYENI) (1975)
19) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– ABACULI BETHU (1973)
20) DARK CITY SISTERS– NTUNTSOANE (1976)
21) JULIET, JOHN MORIRI & MANZINI GIRLS– BAQHUBI BEZIMOTO (1975)
22) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– YAKHAL’INYONI (1976)
23) THE PRIDE – KUMNANDI EZAYONI (1975)
24) AMAGUGU– THULA MNTWANA (1976)
25) OLIVE MASINGA AND THE “T” BONE DOLLS – IZIHLOBO ZIYASISHIYA (1974)
26) IZINTOMBI ZOMOYA– SPONONO NGIYEKE (1975)
27) IZINTOMBI ZESI MANJE MANJE– BASALI BASEJOALE JOALE (1977)
28) MELLOTONE SISTERS– UTHANDO LUPHELILE (1977)
29) IZINTOMBI ZOMOYA– WOZA UNGILANDE (1977)
30) MAHOTELLA QUEENS– OTLA NTSWARELA (1976)
