It was a strange, poignant way to start a concert. Three elderly ladies, each dressed identically in a mixture of tribal costume and New South Africa branding, with flags adorning their hats, scarves and skirts, walked out in front of an audience munching pizza in a Soho basement, and launched into a gently rolling lament for the deaths of three musicians who had each played a key role in their lengthy careers.
They paid homage to West Nkosi, the celebrated saxophonist and producer, to Marks Mankwane, the guitarist, and finally to Simon "Mahlathini" Nkabinde, the greatest township vocal star of the 1960s and 1970s, who was honoured with a state funeral when he died two years ago.
Hilda Tloubatla, Mildred Mangxola and Nobesuthu Mbadu spent over three decades working alongside Mahlathini as his backing singers, back in the apartheid era when the stirring, rolling Mbaqanga blend of R&B, gospel and traditional styles dominated the townships. Mahlathini, with his ultra-bass vocals, was the undisputed king of the "groaners" and the Queens were the best-known backing group in the country.
Their opening lament, Lwaze Lwafika, ought to have been marking the end of an era, and the end of the Queens, but despite Mahlathini's death they have decided to keep going. It has not been easy, as they admitted. All three are now grandmothers (the youngest is 59, and the other two somewhat older), and yet they set out to play the rousing, close-harmony music that first made them famous, and to dress and even to dance as they did in the past. Their stirring new album, Sebai Bai, shows that their vocals are still as slick and stirring as ever, and their first British appearance in well over a decade showed that they have lost none of the old humour and showmanship.
With a young male band now backing them on keyboards, guitar, bass and drums, they showed quite remarkable style and energy, and an obvious delight in even their oldest songs. They traded lead vocals and harmonies with the ease that comes of 37 years of practice, and switched from sections where they sung unaccompanied, to passages where they jumped and leapt in front of their musicians with impressive agility.
There's always a danger with a veteran band like this that they can turn into a novelty act, but the Queens kept their credibility - and their dignity. They promised they had "another 20 years of life", and they deserve yet another revival.
