top of page
Search

Global Music Column – June

  • Jun 13, 2025
  • 1 min read

Witch – Sogolo

In the early 1970s, a newly independent Zambia was forging a sound of its own. Young bands such as the Peace and Ngozi Family mixed distorted guitars with bluesy riffs, falsetto vocals and Fela Kuti-influenced Afrobeat rhythms to produce a genre they labelled Zamrock. At the forefront of this scene was singer Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda’s Witch (We Intend to Cause Havoc). With his nickname paying homage to Mick Jagger, Chanda channelled the Stones’ swagger – alongside a healthy dose of lo-fi vocal grit and meandering, prog-influenced grooves – into five Witch records.


Although the group splintered in the 80s, reissues of their music in the 2010s sparked a Witch resurgence: in 2023, Chanda reunited with keys player Patrick Mwondela to produce their first new album in almost 30 years, Zango. Their latest, Sogolo, shows the revamped band in punchy form.


Read the review in the Guardian.


[This piece was published on 06/06/25]

Recent Posts

See All
Global Music Column – March

Simo Cell and Abdullah Miniawy – Dying Is the Internet E gyptian singer Abdullah Miniawy has spent the past decade lending his melismatic voice and Arabic classical maqam melodies to a fascinating ran

 
 
 
Global Music Column – February

Fabiano Do Nascimento & Vittor Santos Orquestra – Vila O ver the past decade, Brazilian guitarist Fabiano do Nascimento has honed a sound so muscular and expansive it may make you think the prolific s

 
 
 
Global Music Column – January

Toni Geitani – Wahj A rabic electronic experimentalism is thriving. In recent years, diaspora artists such as Egyptian producer Abdullah Miniawy, singer Nadah El Shazly and Lebanese singer-songwriter

 
 
 

Comments

bottom of page