ROOTS ROCKING ZIMBABWE 1975-1980

2xLP/Gatefold LP with 20-pages booklet

In 1972 black people rarely featured in the country’s white-owned official newspapers, unless, perhaps, they were a dead “terrorist”. However, Dr Footswitch’s performance prompted The Rhodesia Herald to print the picture of their guitar player, Manu Kambani, on the front page along with the screaming sentence “Jimi Hendrix is dead but Manu is alive”. With his ability to mimic the mesmerising antics of Jimi Hendrix Manu had impressed everybody and the editor of the paper couldn’t resist printing the story. Heavy criticism from conservative whites followed, accusing the Herald of “lowering the standards.” But the coverage turned Manu into an emblematic figure in Harare, one of Salisbury’s oldest townships, and would influence many youngsters to form their own musical groups. Those bands began fusing Rock music, Congolese Rumba, South African Mbaqanga, soul and traditional beats into an underground music movement that would shape the future of Zimbabwean sound and challenge the colonial establishment.