"The One-Man Band From Chingola" - Keith Mlevhu :: “Love And Freedom”
As an only child born in Chingola, Zambia, Kieth Mlevhu first came onto the scene, known to many as “Zamrock”, while participating in various outfits such as the Dynamagic, New Orleans, Rave Five, Macbeth, The End and Aqualung before venturing out as a solo musician to further explore the electrifying depths of his artistic psyche. The history of Zambia has been told through countless mediums over the years, but one element that stands out the most is the monumental magic of their music that has been absorbed in abundance by people from all over the world in celebration of the cosmic connection to culture, tradition, politics, poetic justice and, above all, freedom. South-Central Africa may be landlocked and seemingly isolated from the entire planet, in particular the music culture of America and Europe during the late 60s and into the 70s, but for guys like Mlevhu, Paul Ngozi, Rikki Ililonga, Chrissy ‘Zebby’ Tembo, Emanyeo "Jagari" Chanda and countless others, they were listening to the atmosphere of the airwaves and inhaling those alchemical aromas from groups like Led Zeppelin, The Stones, Black Sabbath and Hendrix. It would only be a matter of time till they got their chance to show the world just what Zambia’s epic journey to justice and the incredible talent of trailblazing pioneers were made of but, more importantly, where they were coming from.
Launching his very own imprint, Mac Bullet, sometime in the 70s, Mlevhu released his debut solo album entitled “Banafimbusa” in 1976 and that same year, traveled to Nairobi, while under support from the famous Teal Record Company to write and record his groundbreaking follow up, “Love and Freedom” at Sapra Studios in Kenya. Establishing new standards in the process of production, Mlevhu’s “Love and Freedom” was the first album to come out of Zambia, presented in a full color jacket. A small uneventful detail to most, but a historically defining moment in the culture’s artistic output as listeners could finally see the holy outline of their precious landscape represented in all its glorious hues and tonal textures. While truly transcending the typical black and white ascetic found on most of the albums coming out of South-Central Africa at the time, this great advancement gave righteous detail in the rulings of poverty and scarcity seen in the eyes of the artists, revealing their true visions of a better life lived through the power of music.
Gracing the cover decorated in military attire, while wielding an almighty ax aimed at Southern Africa, it was here that the people of Zimbabwe, Namibia, Angola and Mozambique were desperately fighting for their freedoms and lives under an oppressively obliterating government, that, in the end, starved the community and their ways of making a lucrative living through their music and artistic pursuits. With the police locking down local coffee shops and clubs just before nightfall, groups were limited to performing for their audiences during the day, which eventually led to bands splitting up, going back to the mines for work and the unforgivable AIDS epidemic that spread across the entire continent, leaving in its wake death that to this day still continues to wreak havoc on the community at large. While the powerful contents of the album rage with poetic genius and ancestral abundance, Mlevhu explores the electrifying elements of both psychedelia and the ghostly gospel of his homeland with extreme precision and vibrational excellence.
Living up to his title as the "The One-Man Band From Chingola", Mlevhu recorded each and every instrument found on his albums entirely on his own, bringing particularly sorcery-esque elements to his work that many were in complete awe of upon hearing his music for the very first time on their stereo. With tracks such as “I Am Your Star”, the album’s bon-fire jam opener “Bwelelenimo Kumushi” and the title track painting this sincere narrative of love, passion for political productivity and the reality of romanticism, Mlevhu was able to breathe a completely new life into the oblivion of the oppressed by conquering the many shades of hopelessness head on with courage, cosmic composition and sonic strength through music.
