Makgona Tsohle Band

The Makgona Tsohle Band was a South African instrumental band that is noted for creating the mbaqanga music style. The group was formed in 1964 at Mavuthela (the 'black music' division of Gallo Record Company), and became the Mavuthela house band. It garnered success by backing fellow Mavuthela-Gallo stars, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens. It is often referred to as the South African equivalent to Motown's The Funk Brothers.

The individual band members were all domestic workers from Pretoria. West Nkosi, born in Nelspruit in 1940, was sent to live with his grandfather in Pretoria at the age of 16 to find employment. Nkosi found work as a market porter, and then as a house servant, in 1957. During his off-hours, Nkosi played meticulous pennywhistle kwela tunes outside sports centres or on the streets, in awe of his idol Spokes Mashiyane, who at that time was a great kwela star. Two fellow domestic workers, Joseph Makwela and Lucky Monama, happened to see Nkosi playing. In awe of his music, Makwela and Monama persuaded Nkosi to teach them how to play rhythmic music. Not long afterwards, they formed their own group The Pretoria Tower Boys, with three more members. Nkosi was on pennywhistle (though he changed to saxophone in the early '60s), as was Monama, with Makwela on guitar. The Tower Boys sometimes encountered another pennywhistle group, led by talented guitarist Marks Mankwane, who hailed from the Warmbaths area. Nkosi said to his band members to look out for Mankwane, who was a very polished musician, having played guitar since he was 12 years old.

Eventually, Nkosi travelled to Johannesburg in 1962 with Monama and Makwela, all of them hoping to join the recording industry. They ended up as session musicians for Gallo Record Company, playing in producer Reggie Msomi's line-up the Hollywood Jazz Band (Nkosi was now on saxophone, Monama was now on drums, whilst Makwela had made history by becoming the first black electric bassist in South Africa). In mid-1963, Msomi took them on a tour of Northern Rhodesia, which was to become Zambia; however, the tour ended up being a disaster, as political turmoil prevented the group's audiences attending their concerts. As a result they were stranded there for six months. When they returned to Gallo in Johannesburg, they found that it had been severely reorganised.

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