Fifty years ago, the sound of liberation rang around southern Africa, as a generation of heavy, funky rock bands heralded a new political and musical era. At the forefront? Zambia’s WITCH, surviving turmoil and tragedy to become cratedigger superstars in the 21st century. “We want to keep the Zamrock fire burning,” they promise DAVID HUTCHEON.

IT’S A HOT, DRY EVENING OUTSIDE A NIGHTCLUB ON ZAMBIA’S COPPERBELT, SOME TIME in 1974. A hand-decorated truck pulls up and six lanky hippies unfold themselves from its dark interior. Dressed in flares and cheesecloth shirts, their hair unkempt, the sextet distinguish themselves from the curious onlookers milling around by their oversized floppy hats and an air of stoned mischief-making. “Who are you?” asks a bold teen. One of the strangers turns, grinning. “We are The Witch,” he roars, before pointing at the acronymic mission statement painted in large letters on the side of their tour bus, “and We Intend To Cause Havoc!”

As a long-awaited new LP by WITCH nears release, Emmanuel ‘Jagari’ Chanda is looking back on heady days when the Zamrock sound his group pioneered exploded from every transistor radio from Lusaka to Johannesburg. Half a century ago, he was the singer with The Witch; today, he is a septuagenarian gemstone miner who laughs at the chutzpah of his hell-raising youth, reflects on times and friends lost, and enthuses about the unexpected second chance that has come his way.

This summer sees the release of Zango, the first WITCH album in 39 years, and the first since cratediggers discovered their 1970s LPs and reissued them outside southern Africa. Rebooting the sounds of Deep Purple, Cream and James Brown for the Congolese kalindula bass, distorted guitars and drum patterns belonging to the country’s 73 separate ethnic groups, funky hard-rock bands formed in Zambian social clubs at the most febrile time in African history. As politicians and guerrillas fought to throw off the shackles of colonialism, teenage owners of fuzzboxes and wah-wah pedals adapted foreign music to their own ends, imbuing self-penned material with a raucous mix of optimism, liberty, rule-breaking and, yes, havoc.