An old sound from Zambia is getting a major modern reboot. The rapper Sampa the Great, who has played huge festivals like Coachella and Glastonbury, is diving deep into Zamrock for her next album. That specific genre is a psychedelic rock fusion from the 1970s, mixing fuzzy guitars with traditional Zambian music. She is calling her new take on it Nu Zamrock. The first single, Can't Hold Us, is already out with that signature heavy guitar sound. Sampa is not the only current artist looking back at those records. Big-name American musicians like Tyler, the Creator, Travis Scott, and Yves Tumor have all sampled classic Zamrock bands. Those groups from the era include WITCH, Amanaz, and the Ngozi Family. You can also hear the genre on popular TV show soundtracks now.
Zamrock originally exploded right after Zambia's independence, under a policy demanding local radio play Zambian music. Bands took inspiration from Western rock acts like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin but blended it with African rhythms. Frontman Jagari from WITCH, named after Mick Jagger, described that creative push and pull. The scene was famously bold and energetic, with wild live shows, but it only lasted about a decade. A crashing copper market wrecked the economy, piracy hurt sales, and the HIV/AIDS crisis tragically killed many musicians, including several founding members of WITCH. The genre basically disappeared for years, with surviving artists like Jagari leaving music for regular jobs.
The revival started over a decade ago with record collectors and labels in the West, like Now-Again Records, reissuing the rare old albums. Original vinyl suddenly became very valuable. This new interest allowed a revived version of WITCH, with Jagari and some younger European musicians, to finally tour globally and play festivals. Jagari expressed both joy at this second chance and sadness that his original bandmates are not here to see it. There is a conscious effort in Zambia itself to reclaim the sound's origins, with a new museum in Lusaka, a yearly Zamrock Festival, and young local artists experimenting with the style. Record store owner Duncan Sodala points to Sampa as key to properly evolving the genre beyond just being a sample source for others. Sampa believes this resurgence is going to be huge, and Jagari agrees, saying the younger generation needs to keep feeding the flame.
Zamrock originally exploded right after Zambia's independence, under a policy demanding local radio play Zambian music. Bands took inspiration from Western rock acts like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin but blended it with African rhythms. Frontman Jagari from WITCH, named after Mick Jagger, described that creative push and pull. The scene was famously bold and energetic, with wild live shows, but it only lasted about a decade. A crashing copper market wrecked the economy, piracy hurt sales, and the HIV/AIDS crisis tragically killed many musicians, including several founding members of WITCH. The genre basically disappeared for years, with surviving artists like Jagari leaving music for regular jobs.
The revival started over a decade ago with record collectors and labels in the West, like Now-Again Records, reissuing the rare old albums. Original vinyl suddenly became very valuable. This new interest allowed a revived version of WITCH, with Jagari and some younger European musicians, to finally tour globally and play festivals. Jagari expressed both joy at this second chance and sadness that his original bandmates are not here to see it. There is a conscious effort in Zambia itself to reclaim the sound's origins, with a new museum in Lusaka, a yearly Zamrock Festival, and young local artists experimenting with the style. Record store owner Duncan Sodala points to Sampa as key to properly evolving the genre beyond just being a sample source for others. Sampa believes this resurgence is going to be huge, and Jagari agrees, saying the younger generation needs to keep feeding the flame.
