Shwi no Mtekhala—the South African maskandi duo of Mandla Xaba and Rodgers Magubane—specialize in songs of Zulu dispossession and dislocation, delivered with mellow isicathamiya tenor harmonies, signature maskandi acoustic guitars, and stuttering mbaqanga basslines. After beginning their careers in the isicathamiya group Hlanganani, Xaba and Magubane struck gold with their 2004 maskandi single “Wangisiza Baba” and a similarly titled 2006 album featuring “Ngafa,” both platinum-selling, award-winning releases. Shwi no Mtekhala became the voice of a people without a platform over the course of more than a dozen subsequent albums. As South African rappers increasingly added mbaqanga samples to English raps, Shwi no Mtekhala persistently sang in Zulu. In 2019, though, they enjoyed their first crossover hit with "Uthando,” a collaboration with Eastern Cape-born, platinum-selling Afropop artist Nathi Mankayi and Zulu singer Mnqobi Yazo.