Kicking off the evening in inimitable style were The Mahotella Queens: Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola, three extraordinary women who combine powerful voices that harmonise like angels with an infectious joy and delight in nifty mgqashiyo dance routines that take you straight to a mbaqanga township celebration.
Amazingly, these South African veterans have been singing and performing together since 1964, and show no signs of letting up despite being well into their sixties. They had the South Africans in the crowd on their feet from very early on, yelling encouragement and praise.
Unique, and impossible not to be captivated by.
Hugh Masekela, similarly a South African legend, who continues to blow a mean trumpet and sing with raw power and passion at 71, had the crowd in the palm of his hand from the start of a near two-hour set. Anti-apartheid campaigner Bishop Trevor Huddleston gave him his first trumpet at school – and look what he started.Whether chatting cheekily with the crowd ("I'm descended from an Irish family in Brighton"), dancing sinuously to the groove of his awesome band, singing with declamatory power or playing sublime trumpet, he commanded the stage from the off.
Musically, the band led on a jazz-funk-soul groove with a strong African lilt, and the largely Cape Town-based unit delivered a high level of expertise, particularly from their mind-bogglingly good young guitarist and keyboard player.
The only down side to the evening was that while the Dome is a comfortable venue with excellent sound and lighting, this was dance music and largely needed an audience on their feet for things to take off. Those in the back rows were soon on their feet, and others made their way out up in the stalls to the back so they could bop freely, but I wonder whether a stand-up gig might have lifted the evening to even higher levels.
Nonetheless, a fantastic night, delivering veteran South African music at its very best.
Russ Bravo