Africa Artist Amanaz, Amanaz Format:Vinyl / 12" Album Label:Now-Again

Africa
Artist Amanaz, Amanaz
Format:Vinyl / 12" Album
Label:Now-Again
Catalogue No:NA5123LP
Barcode:0659457512316
Genre:Southern African
No of Discs:2

Weight:470g
Dimensions:310 x 3 x 310 (mm)
Track Listings
Disc 1
1Amanaz
2Amanaz
3I Am Very Far
4I Am Very Far
5Sunday Morning
6Sunday Morning
7Khala My Friend
8Khala My Friend
9History of Man
10History of Man

Back in print for the first time in ages on vinyl, note the new price. 16 page book contains extensive essay detailing the story of the Zamrock scene and this album, with notes from Amanaz’s Isaac Mpofu and Keith Kabwe and rare photos. 2 LP set contains both released versions of the album: a dry, drums-up mix and reverb-drenched fuzz-guitar dominated mix. Download card included. Issued in 1975, this is the articulation of Zambia’s Zamrock ethos. While other albums - Rikki Ililonga’s Zambia, WITCH’s Lazy Bones!! - are competitors, it’s hard to best this album as it covers each major quadrant of the Zamrock whole: it came from the mines; its musicians were anti-colonial freedom fighters, it envelops Zambian folk music traditions, and it rocks - hard. Amanaz were serious, and they made a serious stab at an album. They titled their album Africa, according to original band member Keith Kabwe, “because of how it was shared and how its inhabitants were butchered and enslaved, its resources stolen… all the atrocities slave drivers committed. “ Thus, their “Kale,” a blues sung in Nyanja, that traced the continent’s arc from slavery to Zambia’s independence closes the album. Kabwe and rhythm guitarist John Kanyepa have a winsome softness to their vocals, which sit politely aside the feral growl of drummer Watson Baldwin Lungu, bassist Jerry Mausala and bandleader/lead guitarist Isaac Mpofu. Africa’s vibe ranges from anxious (“Amanaz”) to escapist (“Easy Street”) to straight-up pissed-off. On the “History of Man,” his voice whiskey-burned, his distorted guitar buzzing like swarming hornets, Mpofu indicts his species. There’s a darkness to Africa not found on any other Zamrock records, and a melancholy drifts throughout, specifically on Mpofu’s more restrained “Khala My Friend,” which stands as an effective, bleak situation for the Zambian everyman, the average citizen of a struggling, new nation, who might have had relatives in conflict-torn countries on the horizon, who might have been struggling to find his next meal, who might have seen a bleaker future than his president promised. Then there’s the clear Velvet Underground-influence on the nostalgic “Sunday Morning,” which, as Kabwe recalls, was the first song written for the album, back in 1968, when Velvet Undergound and Nico was a new release - and the underground funk of “Making The Scene.” The album also tackles traditional Zambian music and early-‘60s rock punctuated, of course by Kanyepa’s wah-wah and Mpofu’s fuzz guitars. But every time Amanaz get too deep, too violent, they come back with an accessible song and woo their listener back to the groove. “Green Apple” is a civil song, featuring Kanyepa’s sighing guitar. It is a perfectly arranged album, from the dichotomy of Mpofu’s and Kanyepa’s lead and rhythm guitars, to the vocal harmonies, to the rhythm section’s sense of space and time, which allows Africa’s funk to build. Inexplicably, Africa was given two separate mixes and two separate presses: one version is dry, with the vocals and drums mixed loud, the other slathered in reverb, with the vocals and drums disappearing into the mix, and with the guitar solos mixed much louder. We’ve presented them both here as they each have their appeal: it’s up to the listener to pick the one he or she prefers. This is a highpoint of the Zamrock scene and we hope that this can be seen as its definitive reissue
11Nsunka Lwendo
12Nsunka Lwendo
13Africa
14Africa
15Green Apple
16Green Apple
17Making the Scene
18Making the Scene
19Easy Street
20Easy Street
21Big Enough
22Big Enough
23Kale
24Kale
Disc 2
1Amanaz (Reverb Mix)
2I Am Very Far (Reverb Mix)
3Sunday Morning (Reverb Mix)
4Khala My Friend (Reverb Version)
5History of Man (Reverb Mix)
6Nsunka Lwendo (Reverb Mix)
7Africa (Reverb Mix)
8Green Apple (Reverb Mix)
9Making the Scene (Reverb Mix)
10Easy Street (Reverb Mix)
11Big Enough (Reverb Mix)
12Kale (Reverb Mix)