Tuesday, July 14, 2015

40 Year Itch : African Garage Rock


Amanaz : Sunday Morning


     From Zambia's psychedelic Zam-Rock scene comes Amanaz ( an acronym for "Ask Me About Nice Artists in Zambia"). Their 1975 album, Africa, has been rediscovered and redistributed in recent years. Listening to the release, sung in both Bemba and English,  one wonders whether the lesser known strains of the Velvet Underground and Love made it to the mining city of Kitwe by the mid-70's or did the musicians get there on their own using Jimi Hendrix as a starting block? 












3 comments:

  1. This is awesome. Definitely has to be some VU influence in there, especially the third VU record. Wonderful stuff. Must investigate further.

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  2. The Robster is absolutely correct. It's superb, despite the slightly woozy sound like a slightly off-centre record - maybe that's part of the appeal.

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  3. It's really marvelous stuff. I bought the reissue, but haven't played it in a while - you've given me the nudge to dig it out, thanks!

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