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Blacks Unlimited

Language:

Shona

Genre:

Chimurenga

Instrument:

Male vocals Thumb piano

Articles:
Voice of the revolution - Interview
Protest music - Time Magazine
Wikiverse digital encyclopedia

On the Internet
Mbira Homepage
Music samples
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Biography

He is called Zimbabwe’s Lion, and his position in his homeland’s musical life is undeniable: he stands out both as a developer and leader of traditional the Shona people’s music.
Thomas Mapfumo grew up in the small town of Marondera, before the family moved to Salisbury (Harare), and as a child he attended a boarding school in 1964. After school he began to sing with a local band and copied American and English music, such as Elvis, Otis Reading and The Rolling Stones. But already in the 1960s he was experimenting with translating protest songs to Shona. In 1973 he formed the folk-orientated Hallelujah Chicken Run Band and began to explore traditional folk music, especially inside his own tribe. The main instrument in Shona folk music is the mbira (thumb piano), and together with the band’s guitarist, Jonah Sithole, Mapfumo transcribed the mbira-tone scale for guitar. He also moved from ordinary percussion to more traditional drums, the better to express rhythms of the old dance music. This didn’t go down too well at first, because people were not too accustomed to their own music; modern dance music was expected to be western orientated.
But gradually the situation changed, as did the politics. Mapfumo began to write lyrics in Shona, which best commented on the white minority government in the country. In 1975 he warned against the coming war in the single “Morento” and spoke of the struggle for human rights in “Ngomo Yarira”. In 1977 Acid Band was formed and released the album “Hokoyo”, that was a success.
Thomas Mapfumo was by then no longer an innocent musician, but in the process of becoming a troublesome political individual for the white regime, that tried to block the release of his disc. When this didn’t work, the regime forbade the playing of his music on radio and Mapfumo was imprisoned without trial. This led to violent civil protests and after three months he was released. As soon as he was out of prison he continued to play what was being called “Chimurenga” (independence music). During this period he produced many singles that reached the public via the “Voice of Mozambique” radio station. In 1978 the band’s name was changed to Blacks Unlimited, and in 1980 he performed with Bob Marley at Harare Stadium to mark the independence of Zimbabwe.
After 1980 Mapfumo further developed his politics-orientated music and continued to criticise the authorities’ (then Robert Mugabe’s government) corruption and misuse of power.
Thomas Mapfumo is one of modern African music’s most prominent personalities and among those who have really succeeded in modernising music without vulgarising it.

Relevant artists:
Oliver Mtukudzi
Bhundu Boys
Imbongi & Albert Nyathi

CHIMURENGA SINGLES  
Shanachie/1984

This is a classic collection of the singles Thomas Mapfumo made during the War of Independence of 1976-80. One would perhaps think that this would be “parole-music”, and concern “standing together” during a difficult period for the country and its people, but it isn’t. Thomas Mapfumo sings first and foremost about people’s lives. And this in a way he is understandable to everyone. These songs move and, through their lyrics and melodies, have contributed in a big way to revolutionizing music not only in Zimbabwe, but in the whole of Africa.

SHUMBA  
Earthworks/1990

Also a compilation album comprised of singles released just before and after independence. The finest tracks here show Mapfumo at his best, with mbira and guitar exciting together. But the disc as a whole doesn’t score as high as “Chimurenga Singles”, that is therefore preferred if you'll have some of Mapfumo’s earlier releases. And that you should!

NDANGARIRO  
Shanachie/1991

Possibly it’s because the lyrics aren’t included but, anyway, this album seems much more uniform than the singles collection. The absence of accompanying lyrics contributes to the fact that this is less interesting to hear. The repetitive guitar riffs seem stagnant. The music just doesn’t take off.

CHAMUNORWA  
Mango/1991

The lyrics are not included here either, but the music is more varied than the previous album and this is due in part to Chartwell Dutiro on keyboard and saxophone. Also, fine backing vocals by a female choir make you soak in these long melancholic songs. None of them are under 6 minutes, but one sways along with the hypnotic repeats. To listen to this album is like touring Africa. Its zenith is the 9 minute long “Chitma Ndikature”, that simply rolls and rolls and rolls.
"Chamonorwa" is in fact among Thomas Mapfumo's best albums.

CORRUPTION
Shanachie?

HONDO  
ZIMBOB/1993

More of the same as on “Chamonorwa”, but the disc is indefinably heftier. Not as catchy as “Chamonorwa”. Perhaps this has something to do with the production. I play “Chamonorwa more often than “Hondo”. But the lyrics are enclosed and that’s good.

VANHU VALIHA
ZIMBOB/1994

SINGLES COLLECTION
ZIMBOB/1996

CHIMURENGA FOREVER
Hemisphere/1996

AFRICAN SPIRIT MUSIC
Womad Select/1998

CHIMURENGA 98  
Anonymous Records/1998

The company Anonymous Records (!) has no sense of PR. They equip Thomas Mapfumo’s new album with a cheap pap cover and call this collection, which features 12 new songs, something as pedestrian as “Chimurenga 98” (because the album was put together in the autumn of 1998, in Shed Studios, Harare). If we were to judge a book by its cover, this album would seem to be a cheap pirate single. But let the dog see the rabbit! This is actually Thomas Mapfumo’s best disc for many a year. And that’s saying something for a veteran of African music who has been active for 30 years. Despite its outward appearance, this is an exciting album with Mapfumo’s well-known sounds - excellent technical quality and smart details. For example, here you can find a wily song based on an old theme from Mali, described as the first Shona/Manding “cross over” sound and, as the last track, there is a funny football song(!). Quite unlike the songs heard on big stadiums in Europe. A couple of American musicians make small cameo appearances on acoustic guitar and banjo, without seeming like flirts. This is Thomas Mapfumo from A to Z, on his own terms. Some of the tracks on Mapfumo’s albums can seem heavy; there are long introspective songs. But on “Chimurenga 98” all moves easily and effortlessly with enjoyable cooperation between guitar and mbira. The Blacks Unlimited are on top form, the arrangements are tight with three men on mbira and four female backing singers, that slide smoothly the whole time between Thomas Mapfumo’s warm voice, mbira, guitar and the female choir. The song “Tinofara” moves strongly with a well-arranged brass section. The lyrics are, as usual, a blend of political attacks on corruption and sleaze in the government, and old rhetoric and rules. Oh yes, Thomas Mapfumo keeps his powder dry; this is a disk I can recommend without reservation.

LIVE AT EL REY  
Anonymous Records/1999

"Live at El Rey" is a sort of "unplugged"-projekt. The idea is to let Thomas Mapfumo's music stand out as naked as possible, stripped of effects, without big arrangements. And here you really get Africa under your skin. With 8 songs arranged for mbira, bass and drums, plus Thomas Mapfumo's voice, this is one of the most rootsy disks I've heard for some time. It starts a bit fumbling with the song "Marehwarehva", but tightens up during the consert. The small band takes you into a trancelike state. At times it is monotonous, oh yes, but that is exactly the point with this music. You are supposed to think, reflect, or just be in it, as the mbira's play on and on. All the songs are more than 6 minutes long and only the basic rhythms separate them from each other. Best I think of "Hwahwa" (from the "Chamunorwa" album) where the interaction between the two mbira's, the bass and the drums really fascinates. OK, I sometimes miss the guitars, and not to mention the choir girls, and maybe a playing time of more than one hour is too much. Not every one will hang on to this African trip. And as a European I maybe would prefer some more variation, a guitar or saxophone here and there. But the idea was to do as simple as possible, so-. Technically the recordings are excellent, but i can't see the point of fading the sound between every song. It removes the illusion of a consert. Otherwise: Play it again, Sam!

CHIMURENGA EXPLOSION  
Anonymous Records/2000

Another great album from Thomas Mapfumo, whose artistic potential seem to flourish after he went to American Anonymous Records. "Where does the path lead?" is the subtitle of this album that appearently circles around the current crisis in Zimbabwes. (To repeat myself: Where are the translations of the lyrics?) But nothing can hide that this, like "Chimurenga 98", is among Thomas Mapfumo's very best recordings. In fact they are pretty similar, perhaps with bigger variation this time. Even a song with the name "Disaster" swings heavily. Another song to be mentioned from this convincing collection, is the warm "Wachiona Chirombo", where the choir girls sing the melody lines in question/answer exchange with mr. Mapfumo himself and the solo guitar hissing in the background.
It seems as if Mapfumo and his band The Blacks Unlimited have found the recepi. Recording in Shed Studios, Harare, with some extra takes, plus a few new songs made in America. At least "Chimurenga Explosion" is strong enough to accomany you from Zimbabwe to the USA and back again. All the way.

MANHUNGETUNGE
Anonymous Records/2000

See review under "Cimurenga rebel" below

DREAMS & SECRETS  
Anonymous Records/2000

Can funky, urban American jazz be blended with rural, African traditional music? The answer is yes, and it happens in the meeting between the American jazz trumpet player Wadada Leo Smith and Thomas Mapfumo. In other words a typical "crossover"-projekt. You can't mix two such different musical expressions without problems, but the musicians succeed when they try just that: To blend, to meet. For example in the tune "Regai Tione/Jealousy" and "Masimba/Strength to overcome" where Mapfumo's Blacks Unlimited play the basic rhythms and Leo Smith and his guitarists Woody Lee Aplanalp and Henry Kaiser, plus Smith himself freely improvises around the theme. Sparkling music, fresh sounds and rhythms appear, something new is in fact created! Thomas Mapfumo' soulful voice contributes to a large extent. Leo Smith's clear and soar trumpet tone is joyful to my ears. But I'm not quite sure of what I think about the slow, funky jazz on the rest of the album. It leaves me cold, as John Lennon would have said. It seems as if Leo Smith and Mapfumo need each other on this disk.
That's where the secret lies: Come together. As John Lennon also said.

COLLECTED
Nascente/2001

Click record company for tracklisting and music samples.

CHIMURENGA REBEL  
Anonymous Records/2002

'A new double album, this. A great event, in fact, even if one part of the CD is comprised of "Manhungetunge", formerly released only in Zimbabwe in 2000. The other half of the project is a totally new production, "Chimurenga Rebel". "Manhungetunge" is the better of the two disks, opening with the satirical "Big In America", with fresh and energetic guitar playing from Woody Aplanalp from Wadada Smith's group, N'da Culture. Here you can also find a new guitarist in Blacks Unlimited, the 17 year old Zivay Guveya who leaves his excellent mark on the rest of the tracks. Following a disagreement between Zimbabwe's government and Mapfumo he set up (temporary?) residence in the USA. The government confiscated Mapfumo's cars, among other things and he comments on this in one song. There is, on the whole, much spiteful commentary from Thomas Mapfumo in these songs. They roll along magnificently - "Ndini Ndega" for example - with crass outbursts against arbitrary, willful leaders. Considering the difficulties he's faced, such as illness among the band members, it is amazing that Mapfumo manages to retain his style and doesn't ever let go. "Manhungetunge" is in fact a very strong album. It does seem as though this project threatens to lose some of its power on "Chimurenga Rebel", that consists of darker tracks. This is not strange as several band members are dead, among them the guitarists Joshua Dube.
Lyrics-wise he continues his bitter attacks on the misrule in his homeland. This is heard most clearly on the song "Mirima Nzara" (You Have Sown Hunger"), where he accuses the father (of a village!) of abusing people, chasing away the farmers, just to sit amid poverty and hunger. "He will have to pay a high price for having such a big mouth", declares Mapfumo. "But his children are the ones who will face an uncertain fate." In the song "Zimbabwe" the new guitarist Guveya is once more in the picture with creative and crisp riffs. And the disk that at first hearing seemed heavy lifts itself after all. "Chimurenga Rebel" can be summed up in just one word: impressive.

TOI TOI  
Anonymous Records/2003

I don't really know what to think about "Toi Toi". I've played and replayed most of what I reviewed by Thomas Mapfumo in the past, trying to find a measuring stick for his work. "Toi Toi" is definitely Thomas Mapfumo's, but still the album is different from much of his other work. It seems as if the loss of his former "Chimurenga" guitarist, Ephrahim Karimaura, and subsequently Joshua Dube, has forced bandleader Mapfumo to perform slightly altered versions of his music. "Toi Toi" is in any case more funky than his previous albums, which means it's more dominated by heavy bass and a different (for Mapfumo) use of brass instruments. The album may sound quite heavy the first time you hear it, as is often the case with Thomas Mapfumo's music. However, if you take your time you'll experience something a little different. The album opens with the quite catchy "Timothy", a song about AIDS and womanising. Then the band becomes a bit staid on a couple of songs, even if "Pasi Inhaka" has much nice guitar work. But on track number 4 Thomas Mapfumo strides out again with one of his best songs for a long time, "Komborera". This is in fact a sort of psalm on the subject of injustice and unfair distribution of goods in our world. It's a strong, trance-like piece with beautiful trumpet backing. "Tatsuvakira" and "Ndateterera" follow, the former containing a jazz-inspired trumpet solo, again by Brooks Barnett and ditto trombone by Obj Tavailaj. Three strong tracks in a row, there. The last pieces on "Toi Toi" don't quite reach the same level, however.
To sum up: "Toi Toi" is what I would consider an uneven album. Still, there is something about it that hooks you. You can't really stop playing it.

CHOICE CHIMURENGA
Sheer Sound/2004

Choice Chimurenga is a compilation of songs from several of Mapfumo’s recent albums:
Sweet Maria & Timothy from Toi Toi
Marima Nzara, Zimbabwe, & Havasevenzi Vapfana from Chimurenga Rebel; Manhungetunge & Pamuromo Chete from Manhungetunge
Mamvemne, Kuende Mbire, & Disaster from Chimurenga Explosion
Nyama Musango from Live at El Rey;
and Usatambe Nenyoka & Chimurenga from Chimurenga ‘98.

Tracks:

* 1. Sweet Maria (6:24)
* 2. Timothy (7:32)
* 3. Marima Nzara (You have ploughed hunger) (6:57)
* 4. Zimbabwe (3:30)
* 5. Havasevenzi Vapfana (The youth are unemployed) (4:45)
* 6. Manhungetunge (Tweaking stomach ache) (4:42)
* 7. Pamuromo Chete (It's just talking) (6:31)
* 8. Mamvemne (Tattered rags) (6:32)
* 9. Kuende Mbire (You have left us) (6:17)
* 10. Disaster (5:44)
* 11. Nyama Musango (Nyamamusango) (There is meat in the forest) (8:12)
* 12. Usatambe Nenyoka (Don't play around with a snake) (6:25)
* 13. Chimurenga (6:07)

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