Izintombi Zesimanjemanje (The Modern Girls, a classic example of mbaqanga music, competed heavily with Mahotella Queens at the peak of their popularity in the 1970s. Their first full-length album, Izintombi Zesi Manje Manje, was released in 1967, and enjoyed massive popularity in the early and mid-1970s, outselling the Mahotella Queens. They were so popular that "simanjemanje" became synonymous with the broad category of the women-led mbaqanga style. In 1971, when the band was at the top of the popularity ratings, the lineup included Jane Dlamini, Lindiwe Mthembu, Nobesuthu Shawe, Hilda Tloubatla, and Ruth Mafuxwana. They collaborated with the Soul Brothers and the horn section of Abafana Benhtuthuko for their 1978 album, appropriately (though unoriginally) titled Izintombi Zesimanjemanje 1978.

Zesimanjemanje were backed by a pool of excellent musicians who were essentially treated as uncredited in-house musicians. Though their house bands remained consistent in name (Abafana Benthuthuko, Nzimande All Stars), the instrumentalists themselves were interchangeable, substituting for one another, supporting the mbaqanga and soul vocal choruses, sax jivers, and Zulu guitarists.

As Izintombi Zesimanjemanje started losing popularity, the Soul Brothers were gaining it, and they helped maintain interest in the female singers by continuing to share the stage and studio with them. This shift in popularity was linked directly to the import of disco to South Africa, which the Soul Brothers jumped onto early on, grabbing a younger, more disco-oriented audience. By the early to mid-1980s, it had become difficult for women-led mbaqanga bands to maintain an audience. Zesimanjemanje tried the disco scene, briefly, but with little success.

After a breakup in 1988, Jane Dlamini resurrected the group with some new vocalists and instrumentalists, experimenting with reggae, the then-current hit style. Their 1990 LP, Namibian People was topical, but again led to no successful leaps for the band. By this time, it had become clear that the Mahotella Queens had taken the spotlight of mbaqanga music overseas, and Izintombe Zesimanjemanje had faded out of it. The principle members of the group recorded one more album in 1991, "Lomculo Unzima," under the name Isigqi Sesimanje ("The Modern Sound")

Compiled by: Jake Gold