Zambian rock and popular music, often dubbed as Zamrock, has featured several times in the column over recent years.
Last year, World Beat reviewed the work and career of Zambian music pioneer Rikki Ililonga, whose work featured on the compilation Dark Sunrise from the Los Angeles based Now-Again record label. His band, Musi-O-Tunya, released Wings Of Africa in Kenya in 1973, but it was not released in Zambia until 1975.
In fact, it was Zambia's most popular band WITCH that actually released the first indigenous rock album, Introduction, way back in 1964 (around the time of Zambian independence). WITCH, an acronym that stands for "We Intend To Create Havoc" (an admirable slogan for a rock band) was led by main vocalist Emanuel "Jagari" Chanda. They became known as "Zambia's Beatles".
Chanda was the subject of a recent documentary film by London-based Italian director Gio Arlotta. Arlotta and musician Jacco Gardner travelled to Zambia to track down Chanda, who had left the band in the mid-1980s to take up teaching; he later converted to Christianity and worked in a mine. He reformed the band in 2012 for a tour, following releases of the band's music on compilations by Stern and Rolling Stone magazine. The film's producers focus on Chanda and together they go on a trip to rediscover Chanda's and WITCH's music. The documentary led to a reunion of WITCH and the long-awaited, first-ever European tour.
To get an idea of the importance of WITCH to Zamrock, an under-appreciated popular East African genre, check out their ground-breaking music on the comprehensive 4-CD compilation WITCH: We Intend To Cause Havoc (Now-Again, USA) which has been booming around my house for the past few weeks.
The band's early work sounds eerily similar to Western pop and rock of the time, which is not surprising given that these musicians grew up with this music everywhere. Zimbabwe's Thomas Mapfumo told me that he learned his trade in the mining towns of his country playing covers of pop and soul music from the USA. Chanda makes the same point about the influences of Western music in the excellent liner notes (which feature an in-depth interview with Chanda).
"The American/European musical influence was similar -- especially because Zambia, Malawi and Zimbabwe were under the same colonial masters as Northern Rhodesia and Myasaland. The masters forced their imported culture on their subjects."
The band's early work on CD1 reminded me at times of Ghana's Afro-rockers Osibisa, which is not surprising as WITCH opened for Osibisa on some of their African tours (Osibisa was the first African band I ever saw live).
Fans of psych, prog and hard rock will enjoy the fuzzy rhythm and bass guitars on tracks like the famous Introduction and really it is only the vocals by Chanda that sound remotely African at this stage of the band's evolution. But there are lively standouts on this infectious CD such as Like A Chicken.
Funk gets added to the mix in CD2, bleeding into some of the band's heaviest songs -- snatches of Deep Purple's rock riffs vie with James Brown-like funk riffs and as you would expect, there are lots of wah wah guitar effects. The track Look Out is one of the best songs from this period.
As Zambia went from the heady days of post-independence democracy to a more authoritarian style of government, the music changed. By the late 1970s, copper mining had collapsed (the mainstay of the economy at that point) and after that, the nascent entertainment industry went the same way. WITCH's output during this period is covered by the third CD, Lukombo Vibes, which is the best CD of all four in the compilation. The band was at its creative height -- the musicians had learned their craft and were now adding African sounds and rhythms to create the classical Zamrock sound. Social conditions and poverty feature in songs like Thou Shalt Not Cry, Bleeding Thunder and Fool's Ride.
The last CD features the band's biggest local hit single Janet as well as standouts like Black Tears, Strange Dream and the final track Up The Sky. The full-on mature sound of WITCH is on display in the final CD and it sounds a lot like the rock, funk and psych performed by better-known bands in Ghana and Nigeria. For me, the best songs are all on the Lukombo Vibes disc.
This is a beautifully produced package with excellent liner notes and photographs. The compiler Eothen Alapatt is to be congratulated for his efforts in bringing Zamrock to international audiences. A must for psych-rockers!
More information from nowagainrecords.com or iffr.com/en/2020/films/we-intend-to-cause-havoc.
John Clewley can be contacted at clewley.john@gmail.com.
