One of my favorite albums of recent years are 2017s Welcome To Zamrock Vols 1 and 2.
The rock music of Zambia of the late 60s and early 70s was a mix of protometal influences like Cream and Blue Cheer with some funk and psychedelica sounds added to the mix.
Some of the most prominent bands were Amanaz, the Ngozi Family and Musi-O-Tunya but probably the stalwart of the genre was the band WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc).
The modern music landscape means that a lot artists from the past are getting rediscovered and recognized that otherwise might be forgotten.
In the case of Zamrock, many of the bands have broken up or the artists have passed away like Paul Ngozi and all but one of the original members of WITCH.
It would seem unlikely to expect new Zamrock tunes in 2023, and even more unlikely that it would be worthwhile.
But the attention did bring Jagari Chanda out of retirement and the man who led WITCH from 1972 to 1976 joined with keyboardist from the 80s post-Chanda iteration of the band (Patrick Mondwela) and brought the band out of retirement.
Touring for ten years now, the band is now releasing its first original material in almost 40 years, and it’s pretty great.
WITCH in 2023 doesn’t sound all that much ulike other bands around now that pull in from Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and Hawkwind. Of note, some of Zambia’s biggest artists guest here.
There’s Theresa Ng’ambi, singer and instrumentalist who has been feted by the BBC and rapper Samba the Great who has two Top 12 albums in Australia. On paper, cameos call to mind albums like Prince’s Rave Un2 the Joy Fantastic - ham handed attempts to sound modern and relevant.
But Zango hits the right balance of sounding like the 70s band, but in a modern setting. At around 42 minutes, the music goes enough different directions without wandering too far off and there’s no real clunkers.
Chanda at 71 sounds like he could be 21, full of energy and still listening to the same proto metal bands that power many upcoming artists. I like it.
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