Soweto Never Sleeps - Jive Mabone - Mahotella Queens
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The Mahotella Queens – Jive Mabone

Jive Mabone (Show Them How to Jive), by the Mahotella Queens, the track that was the “basis” (aka plagiarized) for “Jive My Baby” on Malcolm McLaren’s Duck Rock in 1983, produced by Trevor Horn.
From the compilation “Soweto Never Sleeps: Classic Female Zulu Jive” released in 1986.

Soweto Never Sleeps - Jive Mabone - Mahotella Queens

The compilation includes mainly tracks by the Mahotella Queens, the Mgababa Queens and the Dark City Sisters.

Soweto Never Sleeps - Jive Mabone - Mahotella Queens
Mgababa Queens – Sidl’Imali Zethu

This album […] showcases the greatest female jive artists of South Africa. What that really amounts to is a greatest-hits album for the Mahotella Queens. The jive styles were started by the Dark City Sisters in the ’60s (with two songs presented on the album), and the torch was then passed on to the Mahotella collective (with Mahlathini, to the delight of many a listener).
Other groups on the album (Irene & the Melodians, Mgababa Queens) are simply formed from former members of the Mahotella collective. Despite this seeming narrowness, the sounds are still worth hearing. The Mahotella Queens always provide a functional beat with their counterpoint sounds against Mahlathini in the Mgoashiyo sound (the “indestructible beat”).
AllMusic – Adam Greenberg

Verso of LP cover

THE STREAM OF MUSIC (text from image above)
These were the songbirds who lightened the dark years of the mid-seventies in Soweto and the other Black Townships of South Africa. The MAVUTHELA team
who made this record were a tightknit crew of producers, songwriters, arrangers, musicians and vocalists who consistently produced the best in Township Music which found markets throughout Southern Africa.
The Dark City Sisters were the top female group of the sixties, having records released in London, Lagos, Nairobi as well as topping the charts in Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe and South Africa. The Dark City Sisters are fronted here by Joyce Mogatusi.
The Mahotella Queens are a floating team of session singers established in 1964 by talent scout and songwriter Robert Bopape. The Queens took over from the Sisters in the seventies as the top female group with their MGOASHIYO sound (the Indestructible Beat) which joined the sweet voices of the Queens with the deep voiced groaner Simon ‘Mahlathini’ Nkabinde and the music of the Makgona Tsohle band, the toughest Mbaganga session team.
The Mgababa Queens and Irene and the Sweet Melodians were formed by ex-Mahotella personnel.
All these groups recorded songs in both the major Black languages of South Africa, Zulu and Sotho.

— D.a. Vanrenen

Tracklist

A1. Mahotella Queens – Umculo Kawupheli (No End To Music)
A2. Mahotella Queens – Jive Mabone (Show Them How To Jive)
A3. The Mgababa Queens – Sidl’imali Zethu (Our Own Money)
A4. Mahotella Queens – Thina Siyakhanyisa (Bringing The Lights)
A5. Mahotella Queens – Isisu Somhambi (Music Which Feeds The Guests)
A6. Dark City Sisters – Ezomculo (The Musicians)
B1. Mahotella Queens – Igugu Lezwe (World Favourite)
B2. Mahotella Queens – Wozani Mahipi (Hippies Come To Soweto)
B3. Mahotella Queens – Mkhulu Lomkhosi (The Big Celebration)
B4. The Mgababa Queens – Akulaiwa Esoweto (Soweto Never Sleeps)
B5. Irene And The Sweet Melodians – Phelaviki (Let The Weekend Come)
B6. Dark City Sisters – Kulelo Lizwe (Outside South Africa)


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