An electric guitar, a funky bass rhythm and well-combed Afros gather crowds of people dressed in flared trousers, psychedelic t-shirts and reflecting-back more well-combed Afros. This is 1970s Zambia, where the electrifying sound of Zamrock erupts with pride in the newly independent state.

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Zambia, previously named Northern Rhodesia by British colonisers, gained independence from British rule in 1964 when the first president Kenneth Kaunda rose to power. Known as a music man himself who used the storytelling power of song in his political campaigns, Kaunda and his newly appointed government implemented a law stating that 95% of music on the radio had to be of Zambian origin. This, coupled with an economic boom from the copper industry, which brought increased industrialisation and urbanisation, encouraged a resurgence of Zambian musicians composing a distinctively Zambian sound that subverted the previous paradigm of white cultural hegemony.

One of the sounds embodying this initiative was Zamrock. A mixture of psychedelic rock, funk and traditional Zambian sounds (played with instruments such as the ngoma and vimbuzza drums, as well as the babatoni stringed instrument), Zamrock represented a need to step away from the colonial world whilst seemingly still being caught inside it. Bands such as WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc), Musi-O-Tunya and Ngozi Family played with imported Western musical styles whilst adding their own indigenous twist. AMAKA met with Jagari Chanda, lead singer of WITCH, whose name is a Zambian take on Mick Jagger’s moniker, for explanation: “Despite trying to imitate bands like Deep Purple and Rolling Stones, the fact of the matter was we were Africans, and we had the African element influencing our play.”

Similarly to figures such as Jimi Hendrix, James Brown and Rolling Stones, the Zamrock musicians expressed their discontent with systemic injustices and promoted empowerment to young Zambians. In Peace’s song, Black Power, the Zamrockers sing, “fighting for years for land that is ours/ We always come out shouting/ Black power.” The sharply honest tone and counter-culture aesthetic with which Zamrock bands expressed themselves, however, invited negative attention from people who thought they were loose and immoral troublemakers.

“It was a new thing; it was a new phenomenon. While people accepted and enjoyed seeing the local bands performing and recording, they thought that we were making the school-going children wild, and for that, we were rebels”, says Chanda. As well as Zamrock, Kalindula became a very popular music genre within the country. Characterised by its up-tempo rhythm, recognisable Kalindula bass guitar and often traditional drums, Kalindula is a musical style deriving from central-Southern Africa. The specific country of origin is unclear, but many claims point to the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its popularity is most apparent in Zambia through well-known artists like Ameyenge and PK Chishala, though the sound is also present in neighbouring countries like Malawi and Zimbabwe.  

In the 70s and early 80s, different events rumbled the country’s stability. Apartheid leaders from nearby and neighbouring countries such as Zimbabwe and South Africa bombed Zambian power stations as a result of Kaunda’s welcoming of anti-colonial guerillas. This caused blackouts that put a knife in many industries, including music and events, which were hindered by mandatory curfews. On top of this, the price of copper worldwide plummeted in the mid-1970s, forcing Zambia to take out relief loans and, subsequently, fall into more debt. This placed a strain on the Zambian population, turning music into a vocation of luxury rather than necessity, as instruments and equipment became more expensive. The 80s brought about another host of challenges, with a HIV/AIDS epidemic devastating the nation, including some of the nation’s most notable musicians. Stigma regarding the illness still exists today, standing as a legacy of its social impact.

After this period, the country’s music scene returned to being heavily imported through diaspora sounds of hip-hop, soul, reggae and gospel, with growing rates of piracy via digitisation further destabilising Zambia’s music industry. Nonetheless, Zambian musical output never fully disappeared, and artists continued making music in spite of the economic downfall, though not within the previously in demand Zambian genres.

"Zambia’s soundscape has gone through multiple deaths and rebirths over the past few decades, reflective of the turbulent social, economic, and political climates of many of Africa’s post-colonial realities" 

Zamrock’s light all but perished with the plummeting economy, relegating it to the dusty corners of homes where old-timers still spun the vinyl and new-timers would lament its death in a withdrawn nostalgia. It became lost in a time box.

In the last decade, Eothen “Egon” Alapatt, a close friend of renowned hip hop producer Madlib and the Creative Director of the Jay Dilla Estate, stumbled across Zamrock and began reprinting its 1970s hits through Egon’s record label Now Again. This re-ignited the fire of Zamrock, allowing the last surviving member of the WITCH, the aforementioned Jagari Chanda, to go on tours across the globe with a band made up of artists from around the world. 

Zambia’s soundscape has gone through multiple deaths and rebirths over the past few decades, reflective of the turbulent social, economic, and political climates of many of Africa’s post-colonial realities. Today, Zambia’s soundscape is not only diverse in genre but in gender too; many female artists like Bombshell Grenade, Princess Natasha Chansa and Mampi are pushing back against the historically patriarchal musical space.

AMAKA spoke to Zambian rapper Bombshell Grenade for comment. She said, “If we’re talking about Zambia’s music scene being a male-dominated industry, that is 100% there, but for me, that doesn’t stop me from pushing.” She continues, saying, “Honestly speaking,” she continues, “I compete with myself, I don’t have time to compete with the next person, I don’t have time to see what this next male-rapper is doing. I just move at my own pace.” 

"Younger generations are establishing a new music scene that pays respect to older generations of Zambian musicians whilst carving out their own space as New Wave artists"

On the same topic, AMAKA also connected with New Wave rapper and singer Natasha Chansa, who believes, “The music industry, even globally, is male-dominated, so breaking into that industry is already hard to do as a woman because a lot of times you are just sexualised. But, it can also have its perks, like when people hear ‘female rapper’, they get hyped because it’s different so it has its good days and it’s bad days but it can be irritating.”

Younger generations are establishing a new music scene that pays respect to older generations of Zambian musicians whilst carving out their own space as New Wave artists. Princess Natasha Chansa expresses, “We’re hungry, and we’re coming for what we know is ours. Everyone is putting in the work to understand what went wrong and what we can learn from the past so that we’re not making the same mistakes. I’ll give credit to the New Wave because we’re knowledgeable and unified.”

Similarly to previous generations, current artists have fused Western genres with traditional Zambian sounds. One example of this is Trapindula, a mixture of Trap music and Kalindula. Zambian folk artist Theresa Ng’ambi adopted a Trapindula sound in her song “Makenja” (featuring Clique Viral). Ng’ambi has also experimented with meshing other music styles to create a Western/Zambian blend, as is evident in her more recent song “malo okoma”, produced by dj poolboi, an American house producer and DJ.

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Music can tell a lot about a country; looking at Zambia’s musical history through a post-independence lens allows us to understand colonialism’s impact on the country’s creativity and wider output for the world. Through this reflection, we’ve been able to see how Western action determines African reaction, exposing the fallacy of “independence” against the backdrop of imperialist legacy. We’ve also seen how a resulting dependency on Western intervention after years of exploitation destabilised cultural practices in unique ways, making artistry and creativity luxuries dependent on European money rather than a continuation of pre-colonial musical tradition.

In any case, the Zambian music scene is full of a largely unobserved richness that is worth further exploration, both in a historical and contemporary sense. There is much more to be seen and heard.