Soul Brothers

Few groups endure for three decades, and still fewer shape an entire nation's sound as thoroughly as the Soul Brothers have done for South Africa. Their distinctive approach to mbaqanga, the ever-present township jive, turned them into domestic icons and yielded more than thirty albums across their career. Although singer David Masondo and keyboardist Moses Ngwenya have performed as a unit since 1976, the group's roots reach back to the Groovy Boys, a 1970 Natal outfit in which Masondo played drums. When that ensemble dissolved, Masondo, bassist Zakes Mchunu, and guitarist Tuza Mthethwa sustained their musical partnership while employed at a factory. In 1974 the three traveled six hundred miles to Johannesburg in pursuit of recognition and success, neither of which materialized at once. They contributed to recording sessions and supported other acts while refining their own style, eventually adopting the name Soul Brothers—an especially fitting title for musicians whose American-soul leanings outweighed the era's dominant British pop influences and merged with the township jive of their upbringing. Momentum shifted decisively in 1976 when Ngwenya entered the lineup, introducing his Hammond B3 organ textures, and rhythm guitarist American Zulu joined as well. The combination proved ideal; the first two singles, "Mshoza Yami" and "Mama Ka S'Bongile," both registered as enormous South African successes. Their ascent was abruptly interrupted, however, when founding member Mthethwa perished in a car crash in 1979 and Zulu departed in 1982. The band nevertheless issued Isiphiwo, which surpassed 200,000 copies sold and signaled a strong recovery. Misfortune persisted: after signing with Priority Records and delivering the major hit Isicelo, they lost Mchunu to another fatal automobile accident in 1984. For a time, continuation seemed unlikely, yet Masondo and Ngwenya resolved to persist, recruiting Maxwell Mngadi on lead guitar and Sicelo Ndlela on bass, returning to the studio, and maintaining a steady output of at least one album annually throughout the 1980s. Their music reached listeners beyond South Africa when England's Earthworks label issued the compilation Jive Explosion, anthologizing a decade of hits. Capitalizing on that exposure, the group toured Europe and the United States, even performing at the Oslo ceremony where Nelson Mandela and F.W. deKlerk received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly. Extensive road work prevented any album release in 1990, but the following year saw no fewer than thirteen Soul Brothers titles—including reissues—appear on store shelves, followed by seven more in 1994. Beginning in 1995 the ensemble essentially claimed the South African Music Association award for best mbaqanga album, securing it for six consecutive years. Ngwenya has also produced solo recordings. In 2001, Rough Guide to the Soul Brothers supplied a concise survey of the group's trajectory.