Zamrock Archival Reissues

You’re probably a regular visitor to this site, so you probably already have our Dark Sunrise and We Intend To Cause Havoc! vinyl box sets. But, if you don’t, we have some bad news – we sold out. And we’re not making any more. That means, if you can’t find one at you local record store, or on your favorite online repository, you’re going to be stuck trawling eBay so you can get all of your Musi-O-Tunya, Rikki Ililonga, and WITCH fuzz-funk with detailed booklets packaged in handsome boxes and slipcases.

But fret not – we’ve made the most popular of the single LPs available in just that – single LP formats. No booklets, no download cards – just the straight archival issues of these Zamrock gems. These too are rather limited in supply. So if you want this Zambian music (re)packaged in its original format, you should get it now – after these sell out, it’s CD and digital only.

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Photos/Audio: Zamrock Rehearsals – Jagari Chanda, Rikki Ililonga, Karl Hector & The Malcouns (Free MP3 Downloads!)

Late last year we mentioned that WITCH’s Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda and Musi-O-Tunya founder Rikki Ililonga were readying to journey from Lusaka to Rennes to perform Zamrock live with Karl HEctor & The Malcouns at France’s Transmusicales Festival. Well the show went off – and it went off well. So well, in fact, that Jagari and Rikki are again traveling to France to perform at Espace Fraternite – Magic Mirror (Aubervilliers) – again with Karl Hector and crew.

So we’re showing you some rehearsal photos, shot by Denis Pernath at the Hector rehearsal space in Munich, and offering two downloads from the Transmusicales Festival below.

Download: Rikki Ililonga with Karl Hector & The Malcouns: Dark Sunrise (Live at Transmusicales 2013)
Download: Rikki Ililonga with Karl Hector & The Malcouns: Munzi Wa Kangwanda (Live at Transmusicales 2013)

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Zamrock at Transmusicales Festival/Rennes, France

As detailed in yesterday’s issue of Le Monde (“Can You Dance The Zamrock” by Stephanie Binet), WITCH’s “Jagari” Chanda and Rikki Ililonga are on their way to Rennes, France to perform an exclusive set of their Zamrock classics at Jean-Louis Brossard’s Transmuicales Festival. They will be backed by Karl Hector & The Malcouns. This is the first Zamrock performance outside of Zambia in over thirty-five years.

Above and below you can see some images shot by South African filmmaker Calum MacNaughton, who was with Chanda and Ililonga filming scenes for a forthcoming Zamrock documentary when he snapped these shots of the duo in rehearsal. More photos to come soon.

A special thanks to Ludivine Gretere for making this event possible.

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SOLD OUT: EXCLUSIVE PRE-SALE OF OUR WITCH LP/CD BOX SET!


Thanks to everyone that ordered their WITCH box set directly from us! WE ARE NOW SOLD OUT.

Our WITCH We Intend To Cause Havoc! box set pre-sales have done better than expected. We shipped every order that paid as of Thursday, May 24th but we’ve still been receiving requests from folks who want to make sure they don’t miss out on the very-limited 6 LP box set format. We don’t blame ’em – if we didn’t have copies of all of the WITCH’s original Zamrock albums and 45s at our disposal, we’d be jonesing for legit, straight from the master tapes reproductions of WITCH’s 54 rare and unreleased garage-, psych-, prog-, funk- and afro-rock songs. To be honest, we’d probably want the box just for the booklet.

Well, we’re still in the first phase of building out our new webstore, so we’ve set up something for those that want to be guaranteed a copy (in either format). We have 40 LP box sets and 60 CD box sets, and we’re making them available, on a first come first serve basis. As an extra bonus, you’ll get them at 10% off our suggested retail price. UPDATE – WE’VE SOLD OUT. If you want in, here’s what to do:

1.email us with subject line WITCH PRE-SALE at: witch@nowagainrecords.com

2.tell us your preferred format: 6 LP ($73 plus shipping) or 4 CD ($30 plus shipping) and give us your address.

3.tell us your preferred shipping method: in the USA we offer both USPS media and priority mail; internationally we offer USPS first class (when possible), priority or express mail. Bear in mind: the 6 LP box set is heavy, so shipping it internationally isn’t going to be cheap (expect to pay $30-$40 in shipping depending where in the world you live).

4.we’ll email you back to tell you your total, and give you our Paypal address. And, just because we don’t want you to wait – when we confirm your shipment, we’ll also send a link where you can download all of the albums so you can dig in immediately! Note: we only accept Paypal payments at this time.

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Out Now – WITCH: We Intend To Cause Havoc! 4 CD/6LP Box Set Of Heavy Zambian Psych.

The complete works of Zambia’s legendary garage-, psych-, prog-, funk-,afro-rock ensemble. 1972-1977: WITCH’s five albums and rare 7” tracks presented as a 4 CD and 6LP box set. Restored and remastered from the original tapes. Out NOW.

WITCH is the best known Zamrock ensemble – they succeeded in releasing five albums in Zamrock’s 70s heyday. Although there have been two previous WITCH reissues by the Shadoks company, this 4 CD/6LP box set marks the first time that their entire catalog – including rare, 7″-only tracks, all restored and remastered from the original tapes – has been available outside of Zambia.

WITCH’s first two, self-produced albums – Introduction and In The Past, released in unison with the birth of the commercial Zambian recording industry – are exuberant experiments in garage rock, and are as influenced by the Rolling Stones as they are James Brown. Their third album, Lazy Bones!!, is the band’s masterpiece – a dark, brooding psychedelic opus that makes equal use of wah-wah and fuzz guitars, that relies as heavily on the stomping feel of hard rock as it does the syncopation of funk. The band’s last two albums – Lukombo Vibes and Including Janet, recorded after the band toured with Osibisa – make use of traditional Zambian rhythms and folk melodies. They are the most “afro-rock” of WITCH’s oeuvre.

These 54 rare and unreleased songs are presented as a 10″ x 6″ hardbound 4 CD box set with a 24 page booklet and as 6 LPs – each with the original cover art – housed in a slipcase box with a 16 page booklet. The 6 LP box set is limited to 1000 pieces. More photos of each format, and a download of the restored master of WITCH’s “Introduction,” are below.

Download: WITCH “Introduction.”
Buy Introduction here.
Buy In The Past here.
Buy Lazy Bones!! here.
Buy Lukombo Vibes here.
Buy Including Janet (Hit Single) here.

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