· By Rouleaux van der Merwe
This is 'ZAMROCK!!'
PERMANENT RECORD has been working in collaboration with friend and fellow music enthusiast/film producer Calum MacNaughton and the super talented AMICOLLECTIVE on a project dubbed " This is 'ZAMROCK!!' ".
To date, Calum has been working hard on a documentary showcasing the early 1970's psychedelic rock that emerged from Zambia, and he put together a trailer for the project. Future plans include a possible vinyl release of the soundtrack.
The guys at AMICOLLECTIVE were keen to flex some creative muscle and aided in creating this amazing illustration that encapsulates all that ZAMROCK is about!
Below is a short description about the project. View the trailer here.
It’s the early-1970s in psychedelic Southern Africa and rock’s cultural blitz has seized the nascent nation of Zambia as the first generation of independent youth come of age. This is “Zamrock!!” is an Afro-rockumentary that recounts the emergence of Zambian rock music culture in the 1970s through surviving musicians, music insiders, cultural commentators and music enthusiasts. A decade after independence in 1964, young Zambians embrace the zeitgeist of international rock and concoct a musical style characterized by the fusion of rock instrumentation with African rhythms.
Dubbed Zamrock, the sound of 1970s Zambia harnesses the revolutionary spirit behind rock’s global appeal while evoking local musical idioms and traditions. Scattering a milieu of rock artefacts, masterpieces and oddities across the country’s popular music landscape of the 1970s, Zamrock would dominate unhindered until the devastating arrival of disco. The turntables have turned, however, as Zamrock makes a comeback 40 years after the fact.