Thomas Mapfumo

The three mbira players of Blacks Unlimited work at their thumb pianos, creating hypnotic, interlocking riffs. Then the band kicks in over the top with a tune from their new album, Chimurenga Explosion.Center stage, unmoving, completely focused on his words, stands the Lion of Zimbabwe, singer Thomas Mapfumo. "This is chimurenga music. Chimurenga means struggle, and the struggle continues."

Mapfumo, now 55, lives the struggle. He's been imprisoned for the political content of his music. Even now, as a musical icon in his country, he can still feel the hand of censorship, and two tracks from his new album, including "Disaster" have been banned from the radio for criticizing the government of Dr. Robert Mugabe.

"He's experiencing a huge new relevance because to his willingness to publicly defy Mugabe." observed journalist and Mapfumo biographer Banning Eyre. "A lot of his songs through the ‘90s talked about the problems of AIDS and poverty, and becoming more direct in his criticisms of Mugabe. In London, he told newspapers flat-out that Mugabe had to go. Then he had two songs banned from radio play, and that opened the flood gates."

"This is chimurenga music. Chimurenga means struggle, and the struggle continues."

"The struggle still continues. We hope that maybe one day a victory is going to come," Mapfumo said. And in an echo of the terrorism in Zimbabwe today, Mapfumo added, "I had always been suspicious about Mugabe's people because of the way they operated during the liberation struggle. So many innocent people lost their lives, and some of them were killed by our own boys from the bush."

Throughout the late 70s, Mapfumo's chimurenga music, with guitar and bass mimicking the rippling of the mbira, was the soundtrack of liberation, as the native population fought to end the colonial era in what was then Rhodesia. After many years of playing covers of white rock'n'roll, he joined forces in 1973 with the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band to record in his own language, Shona, which was "a way of identifying myself with my own people."

That fell apart, but it planted the seeds, and a few years later, with another band he recorded the album Ho Koyo, whose songs of resistance got Mapfumo jailed.

"I was arrested in 1979 and I spent three months in a prison camp. Then they decided to let me go, because they found no case with me. They made me play for a political rally to be released. But my music remained revolutionary."

In fact, at the show he played his most revolutionary material, since "I'd been jailed, and I'd had no time to write new songs." With independence in 1980, Mapfumo was a hero, sharing the stage in Harare, the country's capital, with reggae legend Bob Marley, a man of similar principles, whose "music was great, and it had a very strong message. It's like my music, it stands for those who can't speak for themselves."

And the lingering influence of Marley still shows in the reggae-ish kick of "Musanyepere." Although Mapfumo had made the rhythms and patterns of the mbira the base for his music, it wasn't until the late 80s that the instrument actually became a part of Blacks Unlimited.

"We had to find the right people who could work well with modern instruments," he explained. "We finally got it right. The way we mix those things, nobody else can ever do it. They're the heartbeat of the band."

And that heartbeat is especially strong on songs like "Chisi." While he's now a major international star, it's in Zimbabwe that he shines brightest. The population chose him as the country's Arts, Culture Literature Person of the Century, and while he's out of the country, "people are missing our music and phoning here, asking when we're going back," he said proudly.

"He's become, once again, the top artist in Zimbabwe," noted Eyre. "At a time when people can barely afford to eat, his shows are sold out." For now, Mapfumo is looking forward to completing a new album before he returns to Zimbabwe, and more political struggle, with elections looming in the next two years, where he will be very vocal.

"Part of his strength is his willingness to say what's on his mind," said Eyre. "He's a real danger. He's creating the cultural and rhetorical space where people can reject Mugabe." "I want to live in a democratic country where everyone has a voice." Mapfumo concluded. "And I want my music to keep being something that brings a change to the people."

This article first appeared on sonicnet.com

Thomas Mapfumo

"This is chimurenga music. Chimurenga means struggle, and the struggle continues."

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