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Saturday 2 June 2018

Rhythms of Zimbabwe


I've been listening to Rhythms of Africa a compilation from Cooking Vinyl's International Music Series a bit this week.
It should really be Rhythms of Zimbabwe given that 5 of the 6 acts who contribute two songs each are from there with the exception being Sierra Leone's S.E. Rogie.

If you don't have Shabini by the Bhundu Boys you should rectify that immediately as it is an absolute classic.Unfortunately nothing else they did came close to matching it. This track Pombi is not bad but not in the same league as those on Shabini.
There are a couple of tracks by ex Bhundu Boy Biggie Tembo on the album but they are both a bit disappointing

The pick of the bunch is probably the consistently excellent Four Brothers who  had a longer and more consistent career  than the Bhundus

Don't you just love these jingly jangly Zimbabwean guitars!

Bhundu Boys - Pombi

Four Brothers - Uchandifunga

4 comments:

  1. Always good to hear the Four Brothers. Thanks

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  2. This is uncharted territory for me, but I enjoyed the exploration. Thanks, CC.

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  3. Back in 88-ish Bhundu Boys were often on Peel- certainly my introduction to them. Thanks for this pair of songs.

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