RIP Joseph Makwela: Remembering SA’s Mbaqanga pioneer

In July 2020, Rolling Stone magazine published its 50 Greatest Bassists of All Time – and at a healthy 44 was South Africa’s own Joseph Makwela.

This is the man who, with another innovator, guitarist Marks “Shaluza Max” Mankwane, are the pioneers of mbaqanga.

On Tuesday, “Bra Joe” or “Mavuthela”, plucked his last cord aged 83 in Soweto, after an illness.

Mbaqanga is a lively, come -and-dance music genre born in the 1960s during the dark days of apartheid.

It fused traditional African harmonies with modern sounds of the day like kwela, marabi and smanje manje from the slums of Johannesburg and Pretoria create a euphonious sound that enchanted millions around the globe.

Thought to be the first South African to play the electric bass, Makwela had a unique voice.

He thumbed that instrument like he was ringimg a bell (to borrow from Chuck Berry in his 1958 hit Johnny B Goode).

Makwela’s full-bodied sound on what was ordinarily a low-end “backing instrument” is beautifully complemented by Mankwane’s brilliant – and also quite unique – guitar riffs.

They were two of the five original members of the Makhona Tsohle Band, that recorded numerous records for Gallo Music company’s new black music unit, Mavuthela Music, run by producer Rupert Bopape.

A prolific talent scout, Bopape dreamed up a commercial musical outfit and called it Mahlathini and Mahotella Queens, with Makhona Tsohle as the backing band.

The ensemble was fronted by West Nkosi on alto saxophone, with Vivian Ngubane on rhythm guitar and Lucky Monama on drums.

The pairing of Mankwane and Makwela became the signature of mbaqanga. Their sound is punctuated by the thundering brasso profundo call of groaner Simon “Mahlathini” Nkabinde, and the response of the angelic voices of the Mahotella Queens.

Makwela’s unforgettable melodies in hugely popular songs like Melodi Ya Lla, Lilizela Mlilizeli, Re Ya Dumedisa and Thokozile made him a darling of up-and-coming bassists who become frontmen of note. Bakithi Khumalo and Sipho Gumede drank from that well.

To think that a young black man from Limpopo who in the 1950s joined the throngs who trekked to Pretoria to sell their labour beat the odds to become a “somebody”.

All it took was the sound of the pennywhistle Makwela heard while working in “the kitchens”, or white suburbs.

He was so entranced he and Monama begged Johannes Ngubane to teach them to play and, along the way, took up the bass and stuck to it.

On the Rolling Stone list, Makwela sits just a notch above the young American Grammy Award-winning bassist Esperenza Spalding.

This is no mean feat considering the myriad of players who did not make it. At the pinnacle of the list is unbelievably prolific American James Jamerson.

He is the mostly uncredited bassist on hundreds of the enduring Motown Records hits of the 1960s and early 1970s.

The Rolling Stone list boasts bass heavyweights from across the genres such as Charles Mingus (number 2), Jaco Pastorius (eight), Paul McCartney (nine), Ron Carter (10), Charlie Haden (16), Robbie Shakespeare (17), Aston “Family Man” Barrett (28) and Sting (32).

Diminutive, soft-spoken, and unassuming, Makwela leaves a huge legacy, having cemented his place in the annals of music history.

What a journey it was.

From herding cattle in the village, to being a labourer in Pretoria, to the studios of Joburg and performing in township halls and later the music capitals of the world.

To me, he is to the bass what Hugh Masekela is to the trumpet/flugelhorn.

Makwela will be buried tomorrow at West Park cemetery.