Thomas mapfumo and the blacks unlimited

When Mapfumo was ten, he moved to Mbare, the poorest and toughest black township of Salisbury and a center of black protest against the Rhodesian regime.

Thomas Mapfumo & The Blacks Unlimited "Danger Zone" - YouTube

In Mbare, Mapfumo heard radio for the first time – African jazz from Johannesburg and Bulawayo, classic big band Rumba and R&B and soul.

Mapfumo began to sing and in high school he joined his first band, the Zutu Brothers. For the next ten years, he made his way as an itinerant singer, copying American and English music such as Elvis, Otis Reading and The Rolling Stones.

In 1973 Mapfumo formed the folk-orientated Hallelujah Chicken Run Band and began to explore traditional folk music, particularly the mbira (thumb piano).

With guitarist Joshua Dube, Mapfumo first adapted songs from the ancient mbira repertoire, working them into the band’s Afro-rock set. To sing in Shona was unusual, and in the context of the escalating war, automatically political.

In 1975 he warned ag Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited - Real World Records ROKIC