The rise of post-independence popular music in Africa has unleashed a wide array of genres from many regions. A snapshot might show, from North Africa, Algerian Rai music, and street music like shaabi from Egypt; West Africa has gumbe, Malinke music, Tamashek, afrobeat and highlife and mbalax; the Congo region has its rumba Congolais and myriad dance forms, while South Africa has mbaqanga.
But you would be very hard-pressed to find Mozambique's potent popular urban style, marrabenta, or any of the most popular urban styles from Africa. The country's somewhat isolated geographical position in Africa's southeast means that it is harder for local musicians to tour overseas. In addition, a long-running civil war which lasted from 1977-92 devastated infrastructure, making it very difficult for musicians to record anything in the capital of Maputo. Some musicians had to leave for neighbouring South Africa and even farther afield to find work.
But even during the civil war, locals danced at social events to the infectious beat of marrabenta, initially developed during the 1930s and 40s from a heady blend of Mozambican traditional dance styles and Portuguese folk music. (Mozambique was a Portuguese colony until its independence in 1975.) Fado, played by Portuguese musicians, was popular at that time, and local musicians took the instruments they played and localised them (similar to guitarists in South Africa and Zimbabwe who did the same with the Western guitar). They added harmony from church music and chords from secular Western music.
One of the early pioneers of marrabenta was the singer Wazimbo (real name: Humberto Carlos Benfica), who is still performing today. He started his career in Maputo singing a Brazilian-inspired marrabenta with the Geiziers band in 1964. He worked in Angola and then brought elements of Angolan music into the marrabenta mix. After independence he worked with the big band attached to the national radio station, Radio Moçambique. Two years later, he joined Orchestra Marrabenta Star de Moçambique as lead singer.
Photo courtesy of John Clewley
I came across Orchestra Marrabenta while I was researching South African and Zimbabwean music in the early 1990s. The band had become very popular in their home country. And with South Africans Mahlathini, the Mahotella Queens and the Mkgone Tshole emerging to tour from the mid-1980s along with Zimbabwean bands like the Bhundu Boys, promoters sent the band to tour Europe.
In 1988, Wazimbo joined the band for recording sessions in Harare, Zimbabwe. These sessions resulted in two terrific albums -- on vinyl and CD -- for the German-based Piranha label. I have the first release on vinyl, Independance. Whenever I play tracks from the album as a DJ, I get people asking me where the music comes from. Some say the music sounds Brazilian, others that it has mbaqanga-like rhythms, and some folks spot calypso in the mix, too. The truth is that marrabenta has all these rhythms and then some. Locals would also hear the fast-paced local dance rhythm majika, which dovetails very nicely with those songs that have a Cuban feel to them. (Cubans were present under the country's socialist government in the 1970s.)
The sound on Independance is full on, with electric guitars (South African and Congolese styles are common), that funky pump bassline found in South African music, powerful horns and soulful vocals. For the latter, if you have delved into the popular music found in Portugal's former African colonies -- from Cape Verde to Angola to Sao Tome and beyond -- you'll already know about this kind of soulful singing; think of Bonga, Waldomar Bastos and the Kafala Brothers.
Orchestra Marrabenta became well known for its energetic dance music, but also produced some sublime ballads. One of the most famous is Wazimbo's Nwahukwana (Nightbird) ballad, featured in the US movie The Pledge (2001; starring Sean Penn and Jack Nicholson). It's a lovely song on which Wazimbo showcases his beautiful voice and guitar skills. You can hear the influence of South African vocal techniques on this one. You can see several versions on YouTube and the like.
As with so many popular urban styles that developed in the pre-World War II period but came of age in the 50s, 60s and 70s, marrabenta has faced many challenges, but the genre is flexible enough to change with the times. It seems to me that the story of molam's continuing survival and indeed success is down to this ability to absorb new outside influences while retaining its strong local roots.
As a result, old-style marrabenta coexists with new hybrids like pandza, a mix of marrabenta and reggae, as a new generation takes the music further.
Mozambique is becoming a tourist destination again and musicians have returned home. Orchestra Marrabenta, which disbanded in the mid-1990s, have reformed, so perhaps international audiences will again get to dance to the irresistible rhythms of marrabenta. Look out for the two Orchestra Marrabenta LPs/CDs on Piranha.
This columnist can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
