Mbaqanga

Mbaqanga groups of the 1960s also found it difficult to get air time on local radio stations,[3] and had to perform outside record stores to attract audiences.

A South African tourist website sponsored by the government describes mbaqanga as "the cyclic structure of marabi .

As a result, the "white Nationalist government brought this vital era to an end" by razing the townships that supported mbaqanga such as Sophiatown.

[5][6] By the middle of the 1950s, the evolving indigenous South African music exploded in popularity given its increased reach to a massively growing urban population.

Its proximity to Johannesburg's downtown area made Sophiatown attractive to performers eager to explore new avenues of music.

The cyclic structure of marabi melded with traditional dance styles such as the Zulu indlamu, combined with big band swing.

Rupert Bopape, enticed by the successful Gallo Record Company to be their African production manager, brought together the musicians of the Makgona Tsohle Band with Mahlathini and a new female chorus, the Mahotella Queens.

Other mbaqanga musicians included Simon Baba Mokoena[7] and West Nkosi, who broke away from the Makgona Tsohle Band in 1990 for a successful solo career until his death in 1998.

The reversal of fortunes was in part due to Paul Simon's incorporation of South African music into his Graceland album (1986) and subsequent tour.

Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens' appearances at festivals in France and at Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday concert in Wembley Stadium, London in 1988 (featuring "white Zulu" Johnny Clegg) signalled its return.

Veteran Afrikaans piano accordion player Nico Carstens produced a boereqanga hit with Viva Madiba.