Zamrock: A Psychedelic Explosion to a Tragedy

They wore platform shoes, smoked grass, and grew Afros. This wasn’t, however, Haight-Ashbury. I’m referring to Lusaka, Zambia’s capital. Here, musicians like Paul Ngozi, Rikki Ililonga, and Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda through tragedy, produced Zamrock, a hybrid of traditional African music, funk rhythms, and psychedelic fuzz guitars inspired by Jimi Hendrix and Deep Purple’s bluesy sound.

The sound and soul found in Zamrock was a result of the citizens new found freedom. On 24 October 1964, Zambia became independent of the United Kingdom and prime minister Kenneth Kaunda became the inaugural president. His plan was to modernize.

The British upper class passed along rock and roll to southern Africa where all sorts of people started drooling over a new type of music. Everyone began listening to the rich exciting sounds of artists like Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, Buddy Holly, The Beatles, and The Stones. Soon after, minors tried to mimic the sound by forming cover bands however it stayed a local thing because there weren’t labels or studios anywhere near. In these small bands was where legends started.

In one particular cover band was Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda who wanted to take his music further and make a future of it. Chanda would later become the leader of WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc), which was an important driving force in Zamrock. And even further down he would become one of the few survivors of the largely undocumented scene. At the time, however, Chanda was wanting to get serious about his music. He and his cover band would often play whenever a hotel needed entertainment. “I had a day job, once upon a time. But what I was paid compared to what I could make over the weekend. I thought to myself ‘wow why should I keep doing the same mundane thing?’.”

Chanda expressed in an interview in 2018 that becoming a musician in South Africa was a very hard thing. You had to really love it and breathe it and live it and only then you would get to play it. Not be famous from it but just play it from the heart. Chanda revealed that he didn’t have peace “because most of the time you are walking around looking for money,” which would years later, become a leading factor in Zamrocks decline.

In 1973 the band WITCH created the first-ever album released in all of Zambia. The album “Introduction” set a tone similar to Dazed and Confused but with a sort of twist, you can’t exactly name. Kims Mbewe lets tear the fluff guitar and you can just somewhat yell in affirmation. The album had to be recorded and pressed over 1,300 miles away in Nairobi because there were no local studios. And they could only buy enough records as they could hall back home.

Rikki Ililonga formed the band Musi-o-Tunya, meaning Smoke that Thunders, inspired by Kenya’s Osibisa who sang in their own tongue. They weren’t trying to sound like anyone but themselves. Ililonga wanted to write rock music that incorporated African rhymes.

More and more people started to consume Zamrock leading President Kaunda to allow radio stations to play mostly this music.

After Ililonga went solo he released “Zambia” which featured a blend of folk and rock. Around the same time, Witch set out more refined fuzz-rock anthems with “Lazy Bones.” I can’t listen to the album without thinking about the Bryan Jones Massacre band.

Another important band was Amanda. Its band members, like many others, were mine workers and anti-colonial freedom fighter who dropped music that talked about times in Zambia. Their sound was clever and had a pop-like catchiness. Their tunes reflected the spirit and joy of the time.

Zamrock brought people together with its memorable sound. Chanda remembered his favorite place to play, the mindolo dam recreation on the lake. Soldiers, minors, and families would listen to the soul of the music while dancing and barbeque into the night. Local bands began touring Zimbabwe, Maui, and Batswana. And musicians became like celebrities at home and could afford some luxuries. However, social and economic forces were beginning to erode those freedoms. And those forces would continue to enlarge until 2020 when the entire economy collapsed.

Due to lower wages families and minors had to prioritize their needs, and frankly, food came far before vinyls. Bands couldn’t make any money and in consequence, most of them had to go back to their everyday jobs and entirely forget music as every other music lover. In addition, Zambia faced constant bombing threats and military raids from near countries. Though Zambia was independent surrounding countries were under colonial rule in the 70s.

“There were two majors issues that confused the shamrock error the curfew and blackout I talked about,” said Chanda. A new curfew was put on the people of Zambia that prevented bands from playing at all. And when they had snuck around the rules or found times to play, power stations were bombed by security forces causing blackouts that made gigs impossible.

Zamrock nearly disappeared off the face of the earth.

Then in 1988, the first case of HIV was reported costing the lives of most of the surviving musicians. The “luxurious” Rock n Roll lifestyle killed the very last beat of Zamrock. It was gone for good.

“I’m not saying I’m clever. I’m not saying I’m clever that’s why I’m alive, no. it’s not that my friends were careless, reckless but they were living in self-denial, and then also they didn’t have means to go to hospitals and see proper doctors who tell them what to do. But looking at the number of people that died by now who would’ve been making different music who would’ve matured musically. But unfortunately, it was not to be,” explained Chanda.

Zamrock faded to a memory the country could remember only through youth. Though a lot of records could not be uncovered, some reissued hits can still be found. In attempt to bring back the amazing Zamrock sound Rikki Ilionga and Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda have revistied playing shows and doing interviews.