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Crucible sounds
Some locations have a peculiar chemistry that brings forth something unexpected. For example, Zimbabwe in the 1970s.
By Jim Irvin.
The Acid Band’s Jonah Sithole performing in 1982
The Black Spirits’ Oliver Mtukudzi and Thomas Mapfumo, Gwanzura Stadium, Harare, 1979.
Roots cause: stars of the
Roots Rocking Zimbabwe
compilation, The Green Arrows, Salisbury, 1977
Photos courtesy Analog Africa
AS JOE BOYD notes in his terrific book, And The Roots Of Rhythm Remain, new genres often emerge from one culture trying to play the music of another. At the turn of the 1970s in Rhodesia – the southern African state known as Zimbabwe from 1980 – black DJs on the popular RBC Music Service radio station were playing mostly Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Deep Purple, Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix records, and the spirit of Woodstock inspired battle of the bands contests across the country. Most acts copied the music heard on the radio, but a few started writing their own material, mixing rock with influences like visiting Congolese bands, reggae from Jamaica, jazz-flavoured township jive (mbaqanga) imported from Johannesburg, and American soul of the civil rights era repurposed by people suffering under apartheid in South Africa.