We have always heard about the all-male bands that made waves across Africa and the diaspora from the 1960s to the late 1990s and early 2000s: the highlife bands of Ghana, the juju bands of Nigeria, the soukous and Congolese Rumba bands of the DRC, the choral groups of South Africa, the muziki wa dansi bands of East Africa, and many others. But we cannot look away from the women’s bands that made their mark against all odds, in a deeply patriarchal social scene, stringent customs, and under the guiding myths of different ethnic groups. Some women took a stand, stepped into the spotlight, shone, and made a mark.

Only a handful of them, but today we look at the Mahotella Queens of South Africa. Though the group was formed by a man, the South African music producer, talent scout, and songwriter Rupert Bopape, the Queens held the stage.

The Mahotella Queens are a South African female vocal group formed in Johannesburg in 1964, and they remain one of the most enduring voices of mbaqanga, the township sound that carried the rhythms, struggles and joy of Black South African life during the Apartheid. Their original line-up revolved around five singers fronted by the soprano Hilda Tloubatla. Bopape assembled a pool of about ten female singers at Mavuthela to record girl-group tracks under many different names, but the name that stuck was Mahotella Queens. A name born almost by accident became a legacy.

They were known for mbaqanga, and they sang it with a partner. Fronting the vocal team was Simon Nkabinde, whose searing groan earned him the title “Indoda Mahlathini”, the main man.

Take a moment to picture this: the deep, rumbling growl of Mahlathini set against the women’s bright harmonies, all driven by the Makgona Tsohle Band, the studio musicians who gave the sound its bounce. Together they became the country’s most popular girl group from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s. Their early catalog includes “Meet the Mahotella Queens (1966), and the single “Kazet” is the song that first brought them international attention.

The core five were Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu, Mildred Mangxola, Juliet Mazamisa and Ethel Mngomezulu, and their story is not a straight line. In 1971, Mahlathini signed with the rival company EMI, and the original Queens ended up joining rival girl groups, while Bopape formed a new line-up. The women who had made the sound famous suddenly found themselves scattered across the industry.

Then came the return. In 1983, the original five reunited with Mahlathini and the Makgona Tsohle Band for the comeback release Amaqhawe Omgqashiyo. After one more hiatus, Tloubatla, Mbadu and Mangxola regrouped full-time in 1986, and that trio became the classic line-up. A successful tour of France in 1987 paved the way for an international career that has now lasted four decades, even after the deaths of Mahlathini in 1999 and of several Makgona Tsohle members. The losses have been real. Nobesuthu Mbadu died on August 21, 2021, at the age of 76, and Mildred Mangxola is now listed among the group’s past members.

Yet the Queens never froze in time. Their discography spans nearly fifty albums, from the 1960s through Marriage Is a Problem (1991), Women of the World (1993), and Reign & Shine (2006). They also explored new territory, with Siyadumisa (Songs of Praise) becoming their first gospel-oriented album, proof of a group willing to grow alongside its own faith and life experience.

Against all odds, today the group still exists with this line-up: Hilda Tloubatla, Amanda Nkosi and Nqobile Njapha. Only Tloubatla remains from the original group, and the Queens continue to tour and record. Nkosi and Njapha are stepping into shoes that carry more than sixty years of history. The Mahotella Queens are proof that a group can endure separation, changing labels, changing eras, and heartbreaking loss, and still stand on stage.

Their story reminds us that women in African music were never on the margins. In many cases, they were holding the whole song together.

The Mahotella Queens

Mahotella Queens

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