Pop Music Capsules : Mahlathini Unleashes a Masterful Performance

Looks like the post-”Graceland” interest in South African pop has finally reached the musicians who originated it in the mid ‘60s. Mahlathini & the Mahotella Queens’ masterful performance at the Wadsworth Theater on Saturday unleashed a vibrant barrage of mbqanga music that brought the capacity audience to its feet for most of the two-hour performance.

Mahlathini’s astounding, guttural bray recalled the late bluesman Howlin’ Wolf, and the three exuberant Queens answered him with clear, spirited harmonies. The six-piece Makgona Tsohle band served up skittering guitar melodies that danced over Joseph Makwela’s booming bass counterpoint and the propulsive snap of Philimon Hamole’s syncopated snare shots.

There were enough subtle variations in the predominantly mid-tempo arrangements to keep the music fresh. There was something gloriously inevitable about Mahlathini and company’s performance--on such songs as “Kazet,” they created the impression that there was no other way this music could possibly sound.