FULLER UP HOME GRIM REAPER PAGE CAUSES OF DEATH SEARCH BY NAME GET IN TOUCH SHAMEFUL DISCLAIMER    Fuller Up The Dead Musician Directory     Simon Nkabinde Mahlathini  Simon Mahlathini July 27, 1999 Age 61      Diabetic Condition  OBITUARY  BIOGRAPHY   LINKS

OBITUARY 

NY TIMES           Simon Mahlathini Nkabinde, 62, Zulu Singer                            By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.                JOHANNESBURG -- Simon Mahlathini Nkabinde, a singer better                known as the lead groaner of the Zulu music group Mahlathini and            the Mahotella Queens, died Thursday night, the national radio network            reported. He was 62.             Few details were available, but Mahlathini had been sick for some            months and the group had not performed for about two years.             The group, together from 1964 to 1997, was one of the most enduring in            South African music. Watching the Queens' combination of jubilant            harmonies and choreographed dances was, an American critic said in            1996, like what he imagined a Zulu version of the Supremes would have            been two decades after they stopped fitting into their silken gowns.            Mahlathini, sometimes called the Lion of Soweto, wore a chief's regalia            on stage -- a leopard skin over his chest, fur armlets and leggings, a skirt            of animal tails and beads around his bald pate.             Into his 50's, he could still leap and kick, and his "goatlike groaning" was            compared to the style of Howlin' Wolf. The Queens, who provided a            chirpy, cooing counterpoint, wore huge red circular Zulu hats, skirts of            leather and beadwork, leotards and sneakers.             Mahlathini (pronounced mah-shla-TEEN-ey) and the Queens            popularized mbaqanga music, which was the post-jazz rage in black            townships in the 1960's. It faded, but was revived after Paul Simon's            1986 "Graceland" album popularized South African music in the West.            Mbaqanga (pronounced mm-bah-KAHNG-guh, with the K formed by            popping the tongue off the roof of the mouth) is from a Zulu word for            steamed cornbread. It fused songs of several tribes and, by one            description, blended kwela, which began as jazz played on children's            pennywhistle flutes, with Zulu guitar, which was played on 5-gallon            oilcans with wires strung along wooden necks, and translated the whole            for brass and electric guitar. Like most South African dance music, it is            fast and almost relentlessly cheerful.             The group, which toured 40 American cities in 1990 and played with            Stevie Wonder and Sting, had a hard beginning. West Nkosi, the band's            saxophonist and producer who died last year after a car crash, said in            1990 that Mahlathini had gained attention in the 1950's as a young            wedding singer. He worked with choruses up to 60 strong in a            call-and-response style sometimes called "isicathamiya" or "sneak attack"            for the way the gentle lead vocal is answered by deep chords, often            swooping up an octave or breaking out in a birdlike ululation.             When Mahlathini's teen-age voice deepened and Nkosi pulled the group            together, three women and electric instruments replaced the chorus, but            the style remained. It was so hard to get radio time that they played            outside record stores, asking listeners to buy their albums.             Their lyrics, mostly in Zulu, were serious, about bringing up children or            solving marital problems. They were not overtly political like those of            later defiant youngsters like Brenda Fassie, but sometimes alluded to the            miseries of apartheid, recalled gospel melodies like "We Shall            Overcome" and had some lyrics that praised Nelson Mandela. Nkosi            expressed some disappointment that their audiences in America were            overwhelmingly white. Speaking of black Americans, he said: "We've            given their music tremendous support in our country. Never mind that            they're American. It's about time they took a very important step and            started learning about their origins."                         Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde 1938-1999                     It is with great regret that we at Gallo Record Company and Gallo Africa                      mourn the passing of Simon 'Mahlathini' Nkabinde who died late on                      Wednesday, July 27th from complications relating to a longstanding                      diabetic condition. One of the seminal figures in South African music                      history, Simon will be sorely missed by friends, colleagues and fans                      throughout the world.                       Simon Nkabinde was born in Newcastle in 1938, but grew up in                      Alexandra Township. He began his music career whilst still a teenager,                      leading a traditional choir that performed at township weddings and                      celebrations. He was introduced to the music industry in the late 1950's                      through his older brother Zeph, the leader of one of the most popular                      pennywhistle bands of that era, and there began developing a reputation as                      a vocalist. After forming a close professional relationship with record                      producer Rupert Bopape, Simon began recording for Gallo Record                      Company in 1964 as part of the band of studio musicians that would later                      become known as 'Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens'.                       Simon's trademark bass 'groaning' counterpointed by the intricate close                      harmonies of the Queens with instrumental backing by the influential                      Makone Tshole Band, became one of the most popular and influential                      attractions in African music in the 1960's and 70's. This stellar combination                      for many years produced hit after hit record and kept what was in reality                      the country's first super-group busy touring the whole of Southern Africa to                      fulfill the demand for live appearances.                       After disbanding in the late 1970's, the group reformed in 1984 under the                      leadership of producer West Nkosi and became an attraction around the                      world with their hit 'Yebo'. The highlights of their later international career                      as 'Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens' included their appearance at the                      Nelson Mandela Birthday Concert in the UK in 1988 and their live                      performance before 500 000 people in New York's Central Park in 1991.                             Mahlathini and the Queens enjoyed their first wave of                      power and popularity in South Africa during the middle                      1960's through to the early 1970's but their history really                      begins even earlier in the 1950's.                            Most of the musicians who                      later provided the Queens'                      instrumental backing as the                      Makhona Tsohle Band, including                      present day lead guitarist Marks                      Mankwane and bassist Joseph                      Makwela, then worked as                      domestic servants in Pretoria who                      would gather together informally to                      play pennywhistle and guitars in                      their off-hours.                          The very first line-up of the                      Queens, joined early on by Hilda                      Tloubatla, then later by Nobesuthu                      Shawe Mbadu and Mildred                      Mangxola, began recording for                      Gallo Africa in 1964. Initially, they                      sang a slightly updated variety of                      the all-female close harmony which                      had been a feature of the South                      African musical landscape for                      several decades.                               Then an extraordinary collection of talent at Gallo combined to create a                      totally new style, mqashiyo. The former amateur musicians from Pretoria                      were already Gallo studio regulars when veteran producer Ruper Bopape                      joined the company bringing with him Simon "Mahlathini" Nkabine, who                      had begun his career singing traditional wedding songs in Alexandra                      township, and Shadrack Piliso, a trumpeter and composer with a great gift                      for harmony. In a team effort orchestrated by Bopape, male vocal lead and                      female chorus were integrated with up-tempo electrified instrumentation                      and some of the greatest song writing and arranging to come out of South                      Africa. This stellar combination for many years produced hit after hit                      record and kept what was in reality the country's first super group busy                      touring the whole of Southern Africa to fulfill the demand for live                      appearances.                          Gradually, in the later 1970's, the team disintegrated. The original                      Queens left to perform under a different name. Mahlathini departed for                      another record company, the various instrumentalists went their own                      separate ways, Shadrack Piliso died and Rupert Bopape retired. IN 1986,                      Gallo producer West Nkosi, another one of the original pennywhistlers                      from Pretoria, temporarily reunited the group in the studio to provide                      backing tracks for a Harry Belafonte album. Two French music scouts                      dropped in on the recording session and were sufficiently impressed by                      what they head to invite the band to play at a festival in France, albeit only                      with Mahlathini on the vocals as there were insufficient funds to bring the                      ladies along as well.                          The fire and originality of their performance immediately produced an                      invitation to another French festival, this time with the full vocal                      complement, and the word was soon out amongst worldbeat music                      enthusiasts about "the fantastic band from South Africa". In 1988, the                      Mahlathini & the Queen / Makhona Tsohle Band combination played for                      the Nelson Mandela Birthday Concert at Wembly stadium in the U.K. The                      television publicity resulting from a broadcast of this event which reached                      some 60 countries successfully spread the mqashiyo message and firmly                      reastablished the band on a full time basis. Four musician, Teaspoon Ndelu                      on saxophone and pennywhistle, Marubini Jacome on rhythm guitar,                      Joseph Mabe on keyboards and Philemon Hamole on drums, all                      mbaqanga era veterans, joined up to take the place of original members                      bringing the band up to a full complement of ten.                          Simultaneously with the band's revitalization as a live phenomenon, their                      recording career has also resumed, producing to date four new studio                      albums. Mqashiyo -the beat and the harmony- is alive and vital. Two                      decades after it was born in the Gallo studio, great recordings of the music                      are still being made and the band that makes them now travels the world as                      roving South African musical ambassadors.                      Rob Allingham, Gallo Archive Manager

 

 

BIOGRAPHY

All-Music Guide   Born: 1938 Simon Nkabinde Mahlathini (nicknamed "the Lion of Soweto") came to international attention via the 1985 sampler The Indestructible Beat of Soweto. He began to tour internationally with female singers the Mahotella Queens, although he has been playing and singing his brand of mbaqanga (Zulu pop music, heavily influenced by traditional singing styles) since the early '60s. Mahlathini started singing on street corners, graduated to men's choral music, and went on to form his own smaller group in the mid-'60s. When he "went electric" in the mid-'70s, his new sound caused a sensation, and much controversy. With the Mahotella Queens supplying their dynamic backing vocals and fancy dance routines (think of a South African version of the Supremes) and Mahlathini's primal groaning filling the air, you don't have to understand the language to get the message, although the group has occasionally recorded in English. Another part of Mahlathini's success is the backing supplied by West Nkosi and the Makgona Tsohle Band. "Makgona Tsohle means 'Jack-of-all-trades'," says Nkosi. "Our mbaqanga is a blend of traditional styles with modern instruments, a music anyone can relate to." -- J. Poet & William Ruhlmann, All-Music Guide   The Queens, often heard in concert and on record with deep-voiced "groaner" Simon Mahlathini,  represent the South African township style with absolute perfection. Established in 1964 as a session  harmony group, they came to prominence in the '70s with their tough vocal style and rock-solid mbaqanga backing band. Some of the original Queens have toured the States with Mahlathini recently, displaying their sprightly dancing and gutsy harmonies to appreciative Western audiences.   They are also heard to great effect on the collection album Soweto Never Sleeps - Classic Female  Zulu Jive (Shanachie 43041) with other sister groups. -- Myles Boisen, All-Music Guide

 

 LINKS

Afrique en Scenes