Marks Mankwane

Marks Mankwane was a South African lead guitarist, composer, arranger, producer, and penny whistler, one of the founding pillars of mbaqanga. Born in 1939 in Warmbaths (now Bela-Bela), Limpopo, he hailed from the Pedi community and began playing guitar at the age of twelve, reportedly on a homemade tin-can instrument, with the Zulu maskandi guitarist Joseph Radebe as an early influence.

He later learned to play penny whistle and, after relocating to the Pretoria suburbs to work as a labourer, spent his weekends busking in the streets. It was at the soccer grounds near Pretoria General Hospital in 1957 that he met West Nkosi, Lucky Monama, and Joseph Makwela; together, the four became the nucleus of a group called The Tower Boys, the start from which the legendary Makgona Tsohle Band ("The Band That Can Do Anything") would grow.

When the group moved to Johannesburg in the early 1960s and signed to Gallo's Mavuthela Music subsidiary, Mankwane's sinewy, melodic electric lead guitar became the defining sound of mbaqanga. Alongside Makwela on bass, Monama on drums, West Nkosi on alto sax, and Vivian Ngubane on rhythm guitar, the Makgona Tsohle Band served as the primary backing unit for Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens across hundreds of recordings for the Gallo Record Company through the 1960s and 1970s. Mankwane's playing, fluid, precise, and rhythmically magnetic — was the backbone of the genre's electric township groove.

Beyond his role as lead guitarist, Mankwane grew into a significant producer within the Gallo stable. After Rupert Bopape's retirement as producer for the Mahotella Queens, Mankwane took over the production chair and steered the group through a number of successful records, including Izibani Zomgqashiyo, Tsamaya Moratuoa in 1980, Thatha Izimpahla Zakho, Ezesimanje, and Tsa Lebowa. He also produced the 1991 Verve World release Mbaqanga by Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, an album on which he additionally played guitar and was accompanied by a North American tour.