On sale now at our webstore at Rappcats: BOTH Welcome to Zamrock! Vol. 1 AND Welcome To Zamrock! Vol. 2
How Zambia’s Liberation Led To A Rock Revolution. 1972-1977. An overview of the Zamrock scene, from its ascension to its fall to its resurgence, presented as two volumes, both as 2LPs and hardcover book/CDs.
Both volumes are out WW and we’re offering the individual formats and a special bundle of each volume at our Rappcats webstore.
By the mid 1970s, the Southern African nation known as the Republic of Zambia had fallen on hard times. Though the country’s first president Kenneth Kaunda had thrown off the yoke of British colonialism, the new federation found itself under his self-imposed, autocratic rule. Conflict loomed on all sides of this landlocked nation. Kaunda protected Zambia from war, but his country descended into isolation and poverty as he supported rebel movements in neighboring countries Angola, Zimbabwe and Mozambique and stood up against apartheid South Africa.
This is the environment in which the 70s rock revolution that has come to be known as Zamrock flourished. It’s no wonder that the Zambian musicians taken by American and European influences gravitated to the dark side of the rock and funk spectrum. Fuzz guitars were commonplace, as were driving rhythms influenced by James Brown’s funk and Jimi Hendrix’s rock. Musical themes, mainly sung in the country’s constitutional language, English, were often bleak.
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On sale at our webstore at Rappcats: Welcome To Zamrock! Vol. 1
LP/Book/Bundle ships immediately from our store. Vol. 1 worldwide release date: June 9th.
Teddy Khuluzwa, better known as Dr. Footswitch, had dual careers in his native Zimbabwe – Southern Rhodesia as it was known in the Zamrock days – and in his adopted homeland Zambia. He was, according to WITCH’s Jagari Chanda, the first African he’d met who had actually cut a vinyl record, which must have happened in Southern Rhodesia, some time prior to 1974. But in the ’60s and early ’70s Khuluzwa was found playing guitar alongside future Zamrock greats like Rikki Ililonga, Dereck Mbao, Keith Mlevhu and Ricky Banda in bands like the Rave Five and Lusaka Beatles. While Ililonga recalls starting the band Dr. Footswitch at the time Khuluzwa was known as “Teddy Jagger,” the alternate version of the story has Khuluzwa himself picking up the nickname and founding the band based on his abilities with the wah–wah pedal.
He released two albums in Zambia, Liquid Iron and Everyday Has Got A New Dream – amongst the rarest and best of the Zamrock scene – and a handful of singles in Southern Rhodesia, all in the mid- to late-’70s. But, though he was prolific and his sound unified, he found success fleeting. By the mid-’80s he left Zambia and Zimbabwe for South Africa, where it is assumed he died.
“Everyday Has Got A New Dream” is from Dr. Footswitch’s album of the same title and reflects the mid-‘60s garage rock influence that he carried with him throughout his career. It appears on Welcome to Zambia, Vol. 1
Below: Dr. Footswitch (second from right) as a member of The Rave Five in 1969; three photos of Dr. Footswitch in the 1970s.
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