Stoned African Fuzz: The Sound Of Zambia Posted by Junior

Amanaz: History Of Man and Sunday Morning From: Africa [1975] Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Nagozi Family: Fisherman and Trouble Maker From: My Ancestors [1974] You know, I like to think we have a good relationship, we've been discussing music now for near on four years, I've played you my pick of my collection, you've listened politely. Therefore, in the interests of honesty, I'm not going to claim that I own the records featured today on vinyl or have ever even been in the same room as either. However, I couldn't resist featuring them on the site as I was randomly introduced to both by two different people over the course of the last week and they have been my soundtrack of choice ever since. Sometimes you hear an album and it just fits exactly what you were looking for so well that it's almost scary. This is what happened when I first heard Amanaz. From the moment the combination of lo fi production, fuzzy guitars and soulful vocals kicked off I knew I was going to love the album and it didn't disappoint. What was bizarre though was that within two days of hearing this the topic of Chrissy Zembo randomly came up on Soulstrut, I clicked out of curiosity, and found another 1970's Zambian album which fitted the mood just as well if not better. The albums share a theme so well that you could picture Chrissy and Amanaz sharing studio time and recording tips. So, without further ado, first up, Amanaz. Recorded in 1973, the album is delivered in a mixture of English and native tongue Bemba and it's all absolute fire. History of Man is more than a little reminiscent of early seventies rock like Jimi and Cream with a guitar line that is about as fuzzed out as you can humanly get. Sunday Morning is something else entirely, with an air of Velvet Underground about its combination of rough edges, sweet melody and far off vocals it's been the track of choice for me as I prepare for the day on my commute into work. Something I coudl listen to on repeat for hours, it really is spellbindingly beautiful. Chrissy Zebby Tembo's My Ancestors, from the following year, takes the sound of Amanaz even further, with slightly higher production values and a more uptempo approach. Fisherman features the kind of fuzzy guitar line that I spend days flicking through early seventies albums to find and is used to jaw dropping effect on this track with it's lively percussion and heavy bass. You know how I said History Of Man was a fuzzy as you could get? Well Trouble Maker is just a dirty dirty fuzz beast. Sounding like he recorded the music underneath a pile of blankets, the track features the kind of guitars My Bloody Valentine would have given a nut to produce, combined with the much clearer and desperate vocals over the top. This track is facemelting and mind blowing at the same time. I have many grievances from when stuff has been appropriated off the Fuzz without credit so I must take time to mention that you can get Amanaz from the Crotchbat blog and Chrissy from ChrisGoesRock. I also appropriated both their factual titbits so thank you guys, appreciate it. Also cheers to DJ James and bassie for giving me the heads up on these in the first place. That'll probably do before this turns into the Oscars. Enjoy and if you know of any more artists like this please please please please let me know.