Amaqhawe Omgqashiyo was the first release by Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens

Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens

Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens was a South African mbaqanga supergroup composed of:...

 after their comeback in 1983. The group (under the pseudonym Mahlathini Nezintombi Zomgqashiyo - Mahlathini and the girls of Mgqashiyo [Mgqashiyo being the style of music they are singing]) was reunited by Marks Mankwane. The reunion saw the regrouping of the original Mahotella Queens: in 1971, the original group of five Queens (Hilda Tloubatla

Hilda Tloubatla

Hilda Semola Tloubatla is a South African mbaqanga singer, and the lead singer of the acclaimed group the Mahotella Queens. Tloubatla was born in Payneville, Springs in South Africa before moving to kwaThema township in 1951 as a result of the apartheid government's 'Group Areas Act' in the...

, Juliet Mazamisa, Ethel Mngomezulu, Nobesuthu Mbadu

Nobesuthu Mbadu

Nobesuthu Gertrude Mbadu Shawe is a South African mbaqanga singer, and a singer in the acclaimed group the Mahotella Queens...

 and Mildred Mangxola

Mildred Mangxola

Nontsomi Mildred Mangxola is a South African mbaqanga singer, and a singer in the acclaimed group the Mahotella Queens. Mangxola was born in Benoni, Johannesburg, in South Africa, and loved singing from a young age...

) one by one left the line-up and went in different directions in the music business; an entirely new group of Queens was formed. This incarnation recorded some successful releases, one of them the fairly popular Izibani Zomgqashiyo (1977). After the Makgona Tsohle Band

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 , and became the Mavuthela house band. It garnered success by backing fellow Mavuthela-Gallo stars, Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens...

 (the backing team behind Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens) reunited in early 1983, guitarist and producer Marks Mankwane decided to regroup the original Mahotella Queens with the band - and Mahlathini, to which the members agreed.

The album was reissued in North America and Europe under the title Isomiso in 1984. Several songs on this album (and Amaqhawe Omgqashiyos follow-up release, Pheletsong Ya Lerato) were selected for the Mahlathini and the Queens compilation The Lion Roars (1991).

Track listing

1. "Amaqhawe Omgqashiyo" ("The Heroes of Mgqashiyo Music")
2. "Simenyiwe" ("We've Been Invited")
3. "Satane Ngiyeke"
4. "Isomiso" ("Drought")
5. "Maye Maye"
6. "Somandla Siyabonga" ("Lord, We Thank You")
7. "Kwa Volondiya" ("At Volondiya")
8. "Ngicabange Ngaqeda" ("I Have Made Up My Mind")
9. "Emthonjeni Womculo" ("The Stream of Music")
10. "Ngasebenza Ngedwa" ("I'm Working Alone")