(Credits: Far Out / Gallo Records)
Wed 24 December 2025 23:00, UK
“Oh, my God. You are touching me when you’re talking about those two girls,” said Mahotella Queens Hilda Tloubatia when talking about the band‘s original lineup that pioneered mbaqanga music.
She looked back on the days with the band fondly and grew upset at how cruel time can be, given that it made it so that the original lineup of her group could no longer tour together. “Nobesuthu passed away two years ago,” she explained. “And Mildred, she’s sick. She started getting sick in 2013, up till now. Oh, my God. It’s so painful, really. If you can see it, you can cry, really. She’s using a chair for moving.”
Despite the original band members no longer being able to tour, Tloubatia continued making music and touring with new members, making up Mahotella Queens. People still came out en masse to watch the band live, and rightly so, given they champion a style which is a litany for unbridled joy: Mbaqanga.
For those who haven’t heard this style of music before, it’s traditional South African music that utilises vocal harmonies and different rhythmic patterns in order to create something which is easy to move to and fun to engage with. Take a traditional dance style and merge it with jazz, alongside a couple of other genres of African music, such as marabi and kwela, and you have an idea about how Mbaqanga sounds.
Mahotella Queens were pioneers of the sound, and they brought joy to all those who heard it. If that’s the power that your music has, then why not continue making it and getting it in front of as many people as possible? That’s what Tloubatia wanted to do when she got new members of the band to tour with her, and it’s also why she has never changed the style of her music.
“Exactly. I will never change, I will never change mbaqanga,” she said. “I will never change our style. We will still be having the same instruments, same rhythm, same beat and same tune from Makgona Tshle Band.”
What gave this music a deeper layer of prominence was the fact that it was initially made in the mid-1960s when South Africa was living through apartheid, which meant that a lot of people were being subject to racism, and when you are presented with times of societal hardship, musicians tend to take two different approaches towards it: they either make music which rebels against it, or they provide some form of escapism.
Music lovers in South Africa engaged with both forms of art, and Mahotella Queens very much provided the latter. During times of racism, people were granted a reason to smile with this kind of music, which layered harmony and gave them some excellent tunes to move to in a society that was constantly attempting to keep people restricted.
Mahotella Queens aren’t just the pioneers of a specific kind of music, but they are also representative of a shining light in a dark time. People still don’t realise how powerful music can be when used in the right way, and if you want proof of how important an art form it is, look no further than the Queens.
Related Topics