I’ve been listening to WITCH (We Intend To Cause Havoc) quite a lot lately and highly recommend kicking your day off with their fantastic Zamrock grooves.
WITCH were the biggest rock band in Zambia in the 1970’s, headed by lead vocalist Emanuel "Jagari" Chanda - whose name is an Africanisation of Mick Jagger’s.
Zambia's post-independence days were golden and WITCH’s shows were WILD….but sadly, with the economy collapsing in the late 1970s, government authoritarianism and strict curfews increased.
WITCH, like most Zamrock bands, were reduced to playing daytime shows and faded away.
There was a comeback for WITCH’s music in 2012, when their previous records were reissued.
Then in 2016, Dutch musicians Jacco Gardner and Nic Mauskovic travelled to Zambia to join a documentary crew who were making a film about WITCH .
They tracked down Jagari, and brought him out of retirement for a gig.
Since then, “New WITCH” have toured Europe and the U.S since, and I’m really hoping that the documentary by Gio Arlotta will be screened somewhere near me anytime soon.
Check out info about the latter here:
https://www.pantheonpictures.org/en/successful-wrap-of-our-new-documentary-about-the-witch-in-zambia/
But make sure to listen first, here:
Thumbnail Photograph: WITCH’s first show in Lusaka at a music festival in Matero Stadium, April 1974.
Left to right: Chir ‘Kims’ Mbewe, Paul 'Jones’ Mumba and Emmanuel Kanga 'Jagari’ on the right
Courtesy of Now-Again Records
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