Friday, July 27, 2012

Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited - Rise Up (2005)

A while back I posted about Thomas Mapfumo*: 'Lion of Zimbabwe', anti-colonialist protest musician and subsequently exiled voice of marginalised Zimbabweans. Mapfumo is an inspirational musician, an individual articulation of yearning for freedom and an expression of hope through music. And I've recently rediscovered his album Rise Up.

Released in 2005, it  was a collaboration between African and American musicians, a blend which is clear in the formulation of the opening track Kuvarira Mukati (Suffer in Silence) with rolling hooks from a brass ensemble and a slickness in production which will be unfamiliar to fans of Mapfumo's early works like HOKOYO and Gwindingwi Rine Shumba. Check here for a full discography.

We strongly recommend you take every penny/cent from your bank account and give it all to Thomas Mapfumo now so he can keep making amazing music. Failing that: buy his albums here!!

Anyway, here's the opening track Kuvarira Mukati (Suffer in Silence):



Play loud. Feel the bass kick in. Beautiful.

*Christ that was almost two years ago. Remember kids: life is transient; hold moments like torches illuminating existence.

-L

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