Comments on: A History of Zamrock: Zambia's mix of tribal patterns, heavy rock, blues and psychedelic from the 1970s

A History of Zamrock: Zambia's mix of tribal patterns, heavy rock, blues and psychedelic from the 1970s

filthy light thief — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:04:30 -0800

Zamrock is a largely forgotten musical movement, born from a newly independence still trying to find stability. The sound is a mix of local sounds with heavy, bluesy and psychedelic rock, usually sung in English, the constitutional language for Zambia. Unfortunately, little of the history is written, and those who were there are fewer each year. Last year, Emmanuel Kangwa "Jagari" Chanda, the co-founder and lead singer for WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc), was interviewed for two hours (Vimeo; transcript; source) and recorded a radio show with 14 Zamrock tracks. The South African newspaper Mail & Guardian have an article with more history and interview snippets with Jagari, whose stage name is an Africanisation of Mick Jagger's name. (via)

Sampling of tracks on YouTube: From Witch - "Lazy Bones!!" Black Tears and Strange Dream, Havoc, Lazy Bones, Strange Dreams Rikki Ililonga: live in London, 30/10/2010; and from the Dark Sunrise compilation: Love Is The (Only) Way, The Hole, Sunshine Love Amanaz - "Africa" Sunday Morning, Khala My Friend, History of Man, Green Apple Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family - "My Ancestors" My Ancestors, Coffin Maker, Oh Yeh Yeh Ngozi Family - "45,000 Volts" Everything Is Over, Nizaka Panga Ngozi, Night of Fear The Peace - "Black Power" Black Power, I Have Got No Money Musi O Tunya - "Wings Of Africa" Mpondolo, One Reply

By: Potomac Avenue

Potomac Avenue — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:17:11 -0800

brilliant as usual FLT

By: box

box — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:17:48 -0800

That Now-Again 6LP Witch box set is about to come out, too.

By: theodolite

theodolite — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:24:51 -0800

I'd like to add Blackfoot's The Foot Steps (full album on that Youtube account). If you don't feel great after listening to those songs then you probably need brain surgery.

By: brundlefly

brundlefly — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:31:54 -0800

This is great!

By: The 10th Regiment of Foot

The 10th Regiment of Foot — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:44:26 -0800

See also: Lost tracks of President-for-Life officially approved smooth jazz-funk from Mauritania.

By: Vhanudux

Vhanudux — Mon, 21 May 2012 12:51:09 -0800

Amazing post.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:09:30 -0800

box, Now-Again was the source of this post. They (re)release some amazing stuff from around the world, and do a damned fine job of it. And if you're looking for more Zambrock bands, or related sounds in general, you can jump around links on Discogs, from the album links provided here. There are so many interesting old bands, and new labels focused on bringing these bands to new listeners. I just came across the Shadoks Music label discography page, which looks like a huge time-sink of finding sample tracks on YouTube and elsewhere.

By: MartinWisse

MartinWisse — Mon, 21 May 2012 13:13:49 -0800

Great post, great music.

By: snofoam

snofoam — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:11:13 -0800

Julian Cope has been tied up with other stuff, but I'm sure he'll be coming out with a book on this soon.

By: filthy light thief

filthy light thief — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:48:00 -0800

theodolite, thanks for those links. In the radio show, Jagari talks about the relationship between Blackfoot and other Zambian groups. And with that, let me emphasize that the "radio show" is more than a convenient place to hear 14 Zamrock tracks, but also learn a lot about the musicians and the history behind the music. Jagari shares a lot of really keen insight into the music.

By: box

box — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:20:15 -0800

Dunno how I missed that 'via.' Thanks for this post, flt!

By: Capricorn13

Capricorn13 — Mon, 21 May 2012 16:34:00 -0800

YESSS! Great post! I love WITCH! Thank you.

By: LeLiLo

LeLiLo — Mon, 21 May 2012 20:55:11 -0800

I had never heard of Zamrock until two days ago, when Aquarium Drunkard did a blog post on Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family. The Wikipedia describes it as a combination of Jimi Hendrix psychedelia and James Brown funk.

By: clvrmnky

clvrmnky — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:57:21 -0800

Wait. African-flavoured psych-rock from the 70s... WHY HAVE I NEVER HEARD OF THIS UNTIL NOW?

By: Hobo

Hobo — Tue, 22 May 2012 07:21:22 -0800

Should you happen to be in the UK, Amazon has the new 4 CD set from NowAgain for just £10 delivered. For the majority of you outside the EU, that'd be about £8.50 plus shipping. A bargain.

By: Stagger Lee

Stagger Lee — Tue, 22 May 2012 14:54:23 -0800

This is fantastic, thanks so much for the post.