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World/Africa. Issued in 1975, this is the articulation of Zambia’s Zamrock ethos. While other albums – Rikki Ililonga’s Zambia, WITCH’s Lazy Bones!! – are competitors, it’s hard to best this album as it covers each major quadrant of the Zamrock whole: it came from the mines; its musicians were anti-colonial freedom fighters, it envelops Zambian folk music traditions, and it rocks – hard. Amanaz were serious, and they made a serious stab at an album. They titled their album Africa, according to original band member Keith Kabwe, because of how it was shared and how its inhabitants were butchered and enslaved, its resources stolen… all the atrocities slave drivers committed. Thus, their Kale, a blues sung in Nyanja, that traced the continent’s arc from slavery to Zambia’s independence closes the album. Kabwe and rhythm guitarist John Kanyepa have a winsome softness to their vocals, which sit politely aside the feral growl of drummer Watson Baldwin Lungu, bassist Jerry Mausala and bandleader/lead guitarist Isaac Mpofu. Africa s vibe ranges from anxious ( Amanaz ) to escapist ( Easy Street ) to straight-up pisssed-off. On the History of Man, his voice whiskey-burned, his distorted guitar buzzing like swarming hornets, Mpofu indicts his species. There’s a darkness to Africa not found on any other Zamrock records, and a melancholy drifts throughout, specifically on Mpofu’s more restrained Khala My Friend, which stands as an effective, bleak situation for the Zambian everyman, the average citizen of a struggling, new nation, who might have had relatives in conflict-torn countries on the horizon, who might have been struggling to find his next meal, who might have seen a bleaker future than his president promised. Then there’s the clear Velvet Underground-influence on the nostalgic Sunday Morning, which, as Kabwe recalls, was the first song written for the album, back in 1968, when Velvet Undergound and Nico was a new release – and the underground funk of Making The Scene
Product Dimensions : 12.32 x 12.36 x 0.31 inches; 8.32 ounces
Manufacturer : Now Again
Original Release Date : 2015
Date First Available : April 25, 2015
Label : Now Again
ASIN : B00WO4D0DO
Number of discs : 2
Price effective as of Oct 04, 2024 18:29:02 UTC
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