Okay I promote stuff all the time. But this is special: I went to pick up my daughter at her school and found a small record store (those still exist) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn (corner of Bedford and North 6). The store had a decent but small African section. The store also has some vinyls of African music. (The guy behind the counter plays Afrobeat and other sounds at a bar in the neighborhood). I had 10 minutes to spare.
I ended up with a disk by the Zimbabwean group Green Arrows led by Zexie Manatsa. Curiously entitled ‘ 4 track recording session,’ it is a compilation of their output from 1974-75 (from the ‘Chipo Chiroorwa‘ LP that contained their hit by the same name) and from 1976-79 (‘Waka Waka Selection‘).
These guys are Zim Gods from the 1970s. Damn they rock. Winston Mano, who should know Zimbabwean music, reminded me yesterday that they ‘… were even bigger than Tuku [Oliver Mutukudzi] and Mapfumo‘ at the time.
Playing it now all the time.
african music
Just wanted to say hi and thank you for the post.
Nice beats,also check out AnalogAfrica’s latest release African Scream Contest for a different take on Afrobeat.
Ref: zexie manatsa
someone tells me that when, probably in the late 1970s, Zexie had his wedding(at Rufaro Stadium) he invited Mapfumo and Mtukudzi to play. On that same day, coincidentally, co-president of Zimbabwe/Rhodesia, Abel Muzorewa, had a rally planned in the neighbourhood. Nobody (ok, i exaggerate) went to Abel’s rally as everyone was at Manatsa’s wedding. He was a big act…I was a fan of his music in the 1980s…
…and he accused Manatsa of “sabotaging” his rally…