Now-Again Records

Out Now – Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s Zamrock Classic “My Ancestors”

The Ngozi Family drummer’s fuzz-wrenched Zamrock classic. Released in conjunction with Shadoks. Limited LP Out NOW.

Late last year, we announced the first officially brokered reissue of Zamrock guitarist Paul Ngozi’s music when we posted the song “Jesus Christ” from The Ghetto album, which we released in conjunction with Germany’s Shadoks Music. Now, we’re happy to announce the first legit reissue of Ngozi Family drummer Chrissy Zebby Tembo’s My Ancestors, available now in limited edition LP form.

The late Zebby Tembo, as he was often referred to by his bandleader, recorded at least two albums under his own name, as well as a collaborative album with Ngozi and a handful of 45s. All are special, and feature the drummer’s straight-ahead thrust and throaty vocals amidst Ngozi’s constant fuzz guitar. Songs like “Fisherman,” posted for download below, make My Ancestors an essential buy for anyone interested in the depth of the Zamrock scene.

Zebby Tembo’s music will feature prominently in our Ngozi Family anthology, slated for release in 2013.

Download: Chrissy Zebby Tembo and Ngozi Family Band “Fisherman.”

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.

Christmas/New Years 2011 Pick – Paul Ngozi “Jesus Christ”

Last year, we shared a special single by Zambian guitarist, singer and songwriter Paul Ngozi – who, along with his Ngozi Family, will be presented in a compendium on Now-Again in 2013. This year, we present something a bit harder-edged, in keeping with the garage-psych tradition of the Ngozi Family’s early recordings. “Jesus Christ” is from Ngozi’s The Ghetto, an album that we’ve recently reissued in conjunction with Shadoks Music. If you’re a follower of the music we reissue, this should be a perfect Christmas carol.

Download: Paul Ngozi: “Jesus Christ”.

And, if you missed it last year:

Download: Paul Ngozi: “Happy New Year”.

South Africa’s Mail & Guardian on the Zamrock resurgence: “Up From The Underground.”

Last year, American journalist Chris Smith journeyed to Zambia to interview WITCH’s Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, Amanaz’s Keith Kabwe and the select few remaining Zamrock musicians he could find. He recently published his story in South Africa’s Mail & Guardian. An excerpt is below; follow the link to the full story. Fill yourself in as we ready our 4CD/6LP WITCH anthology – scheduled for release in May of 2012.

” Although sub-Saharan Africa isn’t much known for rock ‘n roll, for a brief period in the late 1960s and 1970s, young guys from Nigeria to South Africa picked up guitars and started playing like Deep Purple. The lion’s share of these groups hailed from Zambia. The biggest band was the Witch, and Jagari, an Africanisation of Mick Jagger’s name, was the lead singer. Fusing the pop sensibility of the Stones, the fuzzed-out guitars of Cream and homegrown kalindula rhythms, the Witch toured all over Southern Africa, from Botswana to Kenya, playing to thousands at stadium shows. ‘The Witch were the band,” says Errol Hickey, the Zambian entertainment impresario and former chairperson of Lusaka’s Radio Phoenix. “They blew people’s minds, eh?’ ”

Read the full article: “Up From The Underground” by Chris Smith (South Africa Mail & Guardian, Sunday, 11.25.11).
More info on our Zambian “Zamrock” reissues here.

Video – Egon Interviews WITCH’s Jagari Chanda At The Red Bull Music Academy

The Red Bull Music Academy brought WITCH’s bandleader Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda to Madrid, Spain to discuss the history of Zambia’s Zamrock scene with Egon. You can watch the entire two hour interview below – and stay tuned for a two part Zamrock special on Red Bull Music Academy radio. We’ll post the links – we promise!

Link: Egon and Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda at Red Bull Music Academy.