Valvulado: Welcome To Zamrock! How Zambia's Liberation Led To a Rock Revolution (1972-1977)

How Zambia’s Liberation Led To A Rock Revolution. 1972-1977. An overview of the Zamrock scene, from its ascension to its fall to its resurgence, presented as two volumes, both as 2LPs and hardcover book/CDs.

By the mid 1970s, the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president Kenneth Kaunda had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new federation found itself under his self-imposed, autocratic rule. Conflict loomed on all sides of this landlocked nation. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty as he supported rebel movements in neighboring countries Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and stood up against apartheid South Africa.

This is the environment in which the 70s rock revolution that has come to be known as Zamrock flourished. It’s no wonder that the Zambian musicians taken by American and European influences gravitated to the dark side of the rock and funk spectrum. Fuzz guitars were commonplace, as were driving rhythms influenced by James Brown’s funk and Jimi Hendrix’s rock. Musical themes, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak.

When Now-Again Records’s Eothen “Egon” Alapatt started his investigation into this scene, he found that Zamrock markers were few. Only a small number of the original Zamrock godfathers that remained in the country survived through the late ’90s, when the music recorded in ’70s Zambia became the final frontier for those global-psychedelic rock junkies searching for their next fix. AIDS decimated this country, and uncontrollable inflation forced the Zambian rockers that could afford to flee into something resembling exile.

This was not a likely scene to survive – but it did. Following Now-Again’s previous anthologies centered around Zamrock bands WITCH, Ngozi Family, Amanaz and Musi-O-Tunya, Welcome To Zamrock!, presented in two volumes, arrives; these two volumes highlight Now-Again’s decade-long investigation into this musical movement and present the definitive overview of its most beloved ensembles. Zamrock’s ascension, its fall and its resurgence is detailed in an extensive book written by Alapatt and Zambian music historian Leonard Koloko. Both Welcome To Zamrock! volumes are presented as 2LPs (with WAV download card and edited booklet) and also as a full 104-page hardcover book with CD. Bundles of both formats are available only via Rappcats, at a discounted price. Both anthologies contain rare tracks by WITCH, Amanaz, Paul Ngozi, Chrissy Zebby Tembo, Five Revolutions, Dr. Footswitch and every important Zamrock band.

The popular music coming out of the South African nation of Zambia in the mid-'70s was loud, edgy, guitar-based, and often a far cry from the more festive Afrobeat sounds emerging out of countries like Nigeria and Ghana. Zambia's liberation from British rule had resulted in a tenuous government that brought its people into hard and impoverished times, leaving the landlocked nation quite isolated. The influence of imported American and British music remained strong, and the scene that emerged in the early '70s combined elements of hard guitar, psych, funk, and soul into a distinctive genre eventually coined Zamrock. On Welcome to Zamrock, Vol. 2, archival label Now-Again continues their exploration of Zamrock's major players including bands like Born Free, Salty Dog, and Witch. With lyrics frequently sung in English and reflecting social and political strife, tracks like Rikki Ililonga's dark bluesy "Stop Dreaming Mr. D," Ngozi Family's rallying cry "Hold On," and Chrissy Zebby Tembo's "I'm Not Made of Iron" are prime examples of Zamrock grit.

Welcome to Zamrock! Vol 1