[Reader-list] Thomas Mapfumo's new album

[Vivek Narayanan]

Some of you may know Thomas Mapfumo's work. He's the genius of 
Zimbabwean music who invented a style called "Chimurenga", in the late 
sixties, by transposing the notes of the traditional mbira 
(finger-piano) onto the electric guitar and mixing it with other 
southern and eastern African pop styles, reggae and rock. During 
Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, his banned songs were so popular that 
the Rhodesian army cruelly played them from helicopters to smoke out 
freedom fighters. After independence, he has continued to be critical of 
the current Mugabe regime. This-- his new album.

V.

*Banned in Zimbabwe, Do-It-Yourself in America:Mapfumo Breaks Out of the Box (Set) on World Music’s 1st Digital Only Release *


They say that outspoken musician *Thomas Mapfumo*
is better known in Zimbabwe than the country’s president. As he faced
more and more limitations on his own musical freedom (he has been
jailed and his songs banned from Zimbabwe’s state-dominated radio and
press), Mapfumo moved to America. But according to *CalabashMusic.com* founder *Brad Powell*,
“When Mapfumo returns to his homeland to perform, the people shout
along at the concerts to his outspoken lyrics. They could never do this
in the streets. He gives them permission to speak freely.”


Mapfumo will once again break a sound barrier on *April 1, 2005 *when he 
releases his new album, */Rise Up/*, exclusively as a digital download 
via CalabashMusic.com; making Mapfumo the first artist to release an 
entire world music album in digital format only. Furthermore, the April 
1 release will be accompanied by a download package of an entire catalog 
of his recorded music—over 130 songs—for $99.

The *“Mapfumo Files”*—as this unboxable set has been dubbed—contain the 
previously unreleased /Rise Up/, and fourteen other Mapfumo albums, 
including a never-released-before recording called */Afropop Worldwide 
Presents Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited, Live in New York/*. 
Afropop Worldwide’s Sean Barlow says: “Our landmark live recording at 
SOB’s in 1991 catches Thomas and his band when they first achieved their 
fully matured sound. With two mbira players right up front, the 
repertoire alternates between traditionally based songs and uptempo 
dance tunes with the swing of African jazz in Thomas’ unique horn 
arrangements. One of Afropop’s most sublime recordings ever.” The 
recording features key band members Sebastian Mbata (drums), Charles 
Makokova (bass) and Ephraim Karimaura (guitar) who have passed away 
since the recording was made.

“Here we have possibly the most prolific voice for a generation of 
social protest in Zimbabwe,” explains Powell. “He has tried the path of 
working with record labels and is now seeking a more direct route to 
fans, cutting out some of the middle-men in the process. He has spent 
recent months recovering the rights to his music and publishing. And now 
he has found our fair trade model which earns a higher royalty than any 
other record deal he has had in his life, in 40 years of being in music.”


/Afropop.org Senior Editor Banning Eyre interviewed Thomas Mapfumo about 
his latest work,
"Rise Up" in a parked rent-a-car on a chilly day New York City last 
December with the heater
running. This beautiful collection of songs is historic in that Thomas, 
frustrated with the
limitations of the conventional music, has decided to release it 
digitally only as fair trade
downloads. "Rise Up" is one of several classic albums released 
digitally. For the first time
ever, Afropop Worldwide is releasing our 24 track live recording of 
Thomas Mapfumo and the
Blacks Unlimited at their landmark 1991 session on S.O.B.'s in New York. 
See separate feature
on "Afropop Presents Thomas Mapfumo, Live in New York."
/

/[ Interview with Banning Eyre]
/

*THOMAS:* The CD is called "/Rise Up/."

*BANNING:* Before we go to the songs Thomas, this CD has had quite a 
history. As I understand,
you recorded the songs twice already in Zimbabwe, and the tapes went 
missing. Tell us the
story.

*THOMAS: *Well, this one is a different one, because the other won that 
actually got involved
with what happened in the studio last time, was a different thing, and 
the music was something
different from what we here. We have only two songs from that other CD 
included on this one.
It's new. This is something new. We have one old song that we 
re-recorded. "/Mukadzi Wangu/."
I think you still remember the song. [SINGS.] We played that some time 
ago, and he we recorded
in a long time ago, and we decided to re-record it. It was going to 
sound something new, rather
than the old style.

"Mukadzi Wangu" means "My Wife." This one is about a man who leaves his 
family to go abroad and
work for his family because there's no work back home, and you cannot 
afford to look after his
family because he is not working and so he decides, "Well, I'm leaving 
this country. I'm going
to go out there and look for a job. I'm going to go there and work for 
my family and come back
after some time. I'm leaving my wife and children." That's the story.

*BANNING:* He's making a big sacrifice, a familiar story for Zimbabweans 
today.

*THOMAS:* That's true. The first song we have there is "/Kova Rira 
Mukati/."

[BE: Song is sweet, melancholy, soulful, wearily resigned, gentle.]

*THOMAS: * "Some People Don't Talk." They keep quiet, whilst things are 
going wrong, like the
situation back in Zimbabwe where people are not even talking, and yet 
there are problems within
the country where poor people are suffering. Somebody is holding onto 
the power for all that long.
He has been there for over 23 years now, and he wants to complete maybe 
30 years, holding onto power, clinging onto power. And we are saying, 
"It's up to you, the people. You have to make a decision. Do you want 
this guy to destroy the country, or do you want to do something about 
it?." So we are saying, "It is up to you, the people, to make sure 
you're going to stop this man from whenever he is doing. He's not doing 
anyone good. He has been there for a long time, and he doesn't want to 
let go of the power. He doesn't want to listen to anyone. We're having 
too many conflicts in that country, so it's up to us the people to make 
a decision."

*BANNING:* Can you quote me some of the actual lines of the song?

*THOMAS:* SHONA. It means, "It is up to you, mothers, up to you fathers, 
up to you boys and girls.
Look at the situation that we are in today. To make the situation right, 
it is up to us, to stand
up and say something. We must rise up and fight back. We need to fight 
back."

[BE: Fast jit, led by girls singing.]

*THOMAS:* That's "/Dogura Masango/." It means, "I'm Going Away." "I'm 
running away from problems. So I'm going to go away. I don't know where 
I'm going. But I'm just going away. I'm running away. I'm getting out of 
this country because there are a lot of problems, and I cannot wait for 
these problems to destroy my life, so I need to go somewhere where I 
will do something about myself. I don't look for me. I'll be gone. I 
might be coming back sometime, but I don't know when." It's a
song about the people who are leading that country, and going to live in 
some other countries like
England, America, all over the world. They are running away from the 
situation back home, so they
can't take it. The songs about them.

*BANNING:* Sango is like the forest.

*THOMAS: *Yes, the forest. "/Mukadzi Wangu/." This is the one we just 
talked about. It was on
Ngangariro, along with "/Nyoka Musango/." It's one of the oldest songs. 
"/Musandi Wenge/."