Thokozile
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox album
| name = Thokozile
| type = Album
| artist = Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens
| cover =Thokozile.jpg
| alt =
| released = 1987
| recorded = 1986
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = Mbaqanga
| length = 40:00 approx.
| label = Gallo Record Company
| producer = West Nkosi
| prev_title = Menate Ea Lefatse
| prev_year = 1986
| next_title = Paris - Soweto
| next_year = 1987
}}
Thokozile is an album by the South African mbaqanga group Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens, released in 1987.{{cite book |last1=Meintjes |first1=Louise |title=Sound of Africa!: Making Music Zulu in a South African Studio |publisher=Duke University Press |page=272}} The album was a reunion of Mahlathini with the backing Makgona Tsohle Band and three of the original Queens, Hilda Tloubatla, Nobesuthu Mbadu and Mildred Mangxola. The album (#Gallo-GRC BL 590) featured re-recordings of older songs such as "Umculo Kawupheli" (heard here as "Sibuyile") and "Sithunyiwe" ("Thokozile"). The album propelled the group into immediate international stardom when it was issued internationally on the Earthworks label.
Critical reception
{{Album ratings
|rev1 = AllMusic
|rev1score = {{rating|3|5}}{{cite web |title=Thokozile Review by j. poet |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/thokozile-mw0000196025 |website=AllMusic |access-date=3 May 2023}}
|rev2=Robert Christgau
|rev3 = The Philadelphia Inquirer
|rev3score = {{rating|3|4}}{{cite news |last1=Tucker |first1=Ken |title=Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens Thokozile |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=29 May 1988 |page=F9}}
}}
Robert Christgau deemed the album "professional dance music at its finest and roughest." The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote that "the music is dense with intertwining melody lines and urgent choruses." The Sydney Morning Herald called Thokozile "a typically infectious set of township jive, though the production tends towards sterility."{{cite news |last1=Barber |first1=Lynden |title=Virgin is currently light-years ahead... |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=April 18, 1988 |department=The Guide |page=5}}
Track listing
- "Thokozile" ("Praise/Be Happy")
- "Lilizela Mlilizeli" ("Ululate/Applaud")
- "Sibuyile" ("We Are Back")
- "Nina Majuba" ("You Pigeons")
- "I Wanna Dance"
- "Uyavutha Umlilo" ("Music Inferno")
- "Sengikhala Ngiyabaleka" ("I'm Crying and Running Away")
- "Izulu Liyaduduma" ("Thunderstorm")
References
{{reflist}}
{{Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens}}
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