Search Results for mapfumo

...Zimbabwe This chapter opens the Zimbabwe portion of the book. Amid the messy aftermath of a bloody war, Mapfumo works to rebuild his band and his reputation. He produces songs of celebration, laced with stern warnings to those who would disrupt the progress of the new nation. The chapter...

..., set the stage for Thomas Mapfumo’s birth in 1945. The chapter evokes the boy’s rural life on the “communal lands” in Rhodesia—farming, tending cattle, and coming to love traditional music—notably mbira. Mapfumo spent his first ten years in Marondera with his maternal grandparents, because his...

...America This chapter opens the America portion of the book. We meet Al Green, an American musician-entrepreneur who starts a record company (aNOnym reCOrds) principally aimed at releasing Mapfumo’s music. Green facilitates the process of bringing Mapfumo’s wife and kids to Eugene, Oregon...

... Writing in the first person, the author describes a night at a Thomas Mapfumo show in Harare, Zimbabwe, in 1997. The account introduces key members of Mapfumo’s band, the Blacks Unlimited, and presents the broad outlines of Mapfumo’s story. The author describes the sacred Shona musical...

... This chapter reflects on the lessons of Mapfumo’s life and career to date. The author shows how Mapfumo’s family and musicians have adjusted to life in Oregon. Mapfumo and his wife reconcile. The chapter centers on the argument that Mapfumo’s choice of exile represents his prioritizing his...

... This chapter describes the paradoxical struggles of Mapfumo’s band and family during the early years of exile. The University of Ohio honors him as an “icon for liberty and justice,” even as band members opt to return home, dissatisfied with a meager life in America. Al Green proves a tough...

... This chapter documents Mapfumo’s 1979 detention near the end of the liberation war. It describes the complexities of a white-owned and run recording company, Gramma Records, producing music that is effectively fuelling insurrection. Once government minders clearly understand the impact...

... This chapter details the events that lead Mapfumo to move his family out of Zimbabwe. It draws on the author’s firsthand accounts during the six-month period he lived in Zimbabwe (described in the Preamble). The author meets former Rhodesian president Ian Smith. Smith professes no knowledge...

... This chapter documents Mapfumo’s shift to creating songs drawing on Zimbabwean traditional music—including mbira—and with lyrics that comment on the situation in the country as the liberation struggle reaches its violent crescendo. Moving from the Mhangura mine to Salisbury (Harare...

... A series of untimely deaths shake Zimbabwe’s music community, and the Blacks Unlimited. Particularly difficult for Mapfumo is the loss of his bass player and close friend Charles Makokowa. The chapter details a somewhat improvised 1995 U.S. tour, in which Mapfumo performs without guitars...

... In this chapter, Mapfumo deals with the complexities of keeping his band on top within a fast-changing Zimbabwean music market, and developing an international reputation. Money is a constant issue, especially as Mapfumo family members become more and more involved in the management of band...

... for Thomas Mapfumo’s birth in 1945. The chapter evokes the boy’s rural life on the “communal lands” in Rhodesia—farming, tending cattle, and coming to love traditional music—notably mbira. Mapfumo spent his first ten years in Marondera with his maternal grandparents, because his biological father could...

... In this chapter, Mapfumo moves to the capital city—then Salisbury, now Harare—to join the family of his mother, step-father, and step-siblings. In the context of simmering nationalist rebellion, teenaged Mapfumo becomes a singer, at first covering rock ’n’ roll hits with a series of local bands...

... This chapter opens the Zimbabwe portion of the book. Amid the messy aftermath of a bloody war, Mapfumo works to rebuild his band and his reputation. He produces songs of celebration, laced with stern warnings to those who would disrupt the progress of the new nation. The chapter delves...

... This chapter opens the America portion of the book. We meet Al Green, an American musician-entrepreneur who starts a record company (aNOnym reCOrds) principally aimed at releasing Mapfumo’s music. Green facilitates the process of bringing Mapfumo’s wife and kids to Eugene, Oregon. A young...

... In this chapter, Mapfumo is working with American management and the biggest international record deal of his career, with Mango, a division of Chris Blackwell’s Island Records. The chapter details Mapfumo’s first U.S. tour in fall 1989. This tour, recalled in vivid and sometimes humorous detail...

... This chapter describes the Blacks Unlimited at the peak of their success. Mapfumo is receiving strong international press and excellent bookings, including at the WOMAD festival in the UK and elsewhere. The band solidifies its three-mbira sound and releases one of its finest albums ever...

... dreadlocks, triggering false speculation that he too is dying. As Al Green’s financial resources wane, people close to Mapfumo encourage him to stop singing politics and make peace with the Mugabe regime, which is now harassing him with legal threats. Police have confiscated four BMWs from Mapfumo’s home...

... This chapter departs from the Mapfumo story to explore the world of mbira music and musicians, notably the life and music of Ephat Mujuru. A number of players of this traditional, hand-forged lamellophone describe how they became players. Accompanied by Mujuru, the author observes a bira...