Thomas Mapfumo & Blacks Unlimited – Rise Up [Zimbabwe]

Thomas Mapfumo Tafirenyika (nacido en 1945) en Zimbabwe.Músico conocido como "El León de Zimbabwe" y "Mukanya" por su inmensa popularidad y de la influencia política que ejerce a través de su música.

Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, Mashonaland East, a town southeast of Harare the capital of Zimbabwe. He lived a traditional, rural Shona lifestyle until the age of ten, when his family moved to the Harare township of Mbare. He joined his first band, the Zutu Brothers (Encyclopædia Britannica says it was the Cyclones), as a singer at the age of 16. From then he was always in one band or another, sometimes doing odd jobs on the side as well, including chicken farming. Hence the name of his 1972 band, the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band.

He played mostly covers of American rock and soul tunes, such as Otis Redding or Elvis Presley, until he was in the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band. There he introduced the innovation of adapting traditional Shona music to modern rock instrumentation.

He worked with guitarist Joshua Dube (Leopard Man's Africa Music Guide says Jonah Sithole) to transcribe the sounds of the chief instrument of traditional Shona music, the mbira to the electric guitar. He also started singing primarily in the Shona language, rather than in English.

Just the fact that he was drawing on the native musical tradition and singing in his native language was a political statement. Rhodesia was ruled by a minority of white individuals who derogated the native black population and culture. But more than that, his lyrics became overtly political, supporting the revolution that was developing in the rural areas, what Mapfumo calls "the communal lands". He called his new style of music Chimurenga. In Shona it means "struggle", and was the name of a previous revolutionary movement in the late nineteenth century. His songs openly called for the violent overthrow of the government, with lyrics like "Mothers, send your sons to war." But since the white government didn't understand Shona, they didn't realize how radical it was. + WIKIPEDIA

1. Kuvarira Mukati
2. Ndogura Masango
3. Mukadzi Wangu
4. Handimbotya
5. Marudzi Nemarudzi
6. Zvakuwana
7. Ndodya Marasha
8. Hende Baba
9. Zvirwere
10. Vanofira Chiiko?
11. Pasi Hariguti

DESCARGA

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