LP - Amanaz - Africa
"Repressed, originally an RSD 2015 release. "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 pissed-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.' The album also tackles traditional Zambian music
and early-'60s rock -- punctuated, of course by Kanyepa's wah-wah and
Mpofu's fuzz guitars. But every time Amanaz get too deep, too violent,
they come back with an accessible song and woo their listener back to
the groove. 'Green Apple' is a civil song, featuring Kanyepa's sighing
guitar. It is a perfectly arranged album, from the dichotomy of Mpofu's
and Kanyepa's lead and rhythm guitars, to the vocal harmonies, to the
rhythm section's sense of space and time, which allows Africa's funk to
build. Inexplicably, Africa was given two separate mixes and two
separate presses: one version is dry, with the vocals and drums mixed
loud, the other slathered in reverb, with the vocals and drums
disappearing into the mix, and with the guitar solos mixed much louder.
We've presented them both here as they each have their appeal: it's up
to the listener to pick the one he or she prefers. This is a highpoint
of the Zamrock scene and we hope that this can be seen as its definitive
reissue." - Now-Again
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