Mbaqanga music pioneers, Mahotella Queens are lucky to get four bookings a month here in South Africa and believe this needs to change.
They are booked more overseas than they are on home soil.
With the new-school genres such as Amapiano and other sounds, they understand the growing need for these styles of music, yet still feel there is also room for their “old school” beat.
They are currently booked for the 4th Edition of the Folklore Festival, currently taking place at the National School of the Arts, Johannesburg.
The festival started on Thursday and will run until Saturday. It runs under the theme, ‘Celebrating Deep Cultural Connection and Belonging Through Music; Storytelling and Heritage Preservation.’
The festival headline acts include Buhlebendalo Mda, Jabulile Majola, Odwa Bongo, and Zawadi Yamungu, to name but a few.
The Folklore Festival is a celebration of contemporary folk artistry, heritage, and community.
Each night is planned to celebrate African creativity and connection in a unique way.
Grateful to be part of the Folklore Festival
Mhotella Queens, made up of Hilda Semola Tloubatla, Nokuthula Amanda Nkosi, and Nonkululeko Precious Maseko, are thrilled to have been called to be part of such a prestigious and historic festival.
“It is a great opportunity to celebrate cultural diversity and carry out the spirit of Ubuntu,” Maseko told Sunday World.
“We love being part of anything that promotes African culture, tradition, especially music. We are looking forward to being part of the people who love Art and Music.”
Bookings at home a rarity
Formed in the 1960s, through the six decades in the music business, they have been booked more overseas in Europe, the USA, and other countries but their own.
So when an opportunity like this arises, they jump.
They believe this is a shame as “South Africans don’t support their own.” They struggle with bookings in South Africa.
“We get an okay amount of bookings; however, most of our bookings come from outside of the country. They appreciate our authenticity because this culture is not something they see every day,” Nkosi reiterated.
“We would love to be invited and get more shows here in South Africa. This is our home.”
They believe that, having played a key role in putting South African music on the world map since the days of Mahlathini and The Mahotella Queens, they are still not getting the honour they deserve.
“The ratio of appreciation is little to almost none. We want to be more visible going forward. We want to work with the youth and to be used.”
Mahotella Queens is currently working on promoting their new album Buya Buya, which was released on July 27.
“We last released 10 years ago, a 50th Celebration of the old songs in 2014. So we are very happy to have new music out for people to enjoy.”
