There’s an irresistible luster to recordings by the great African bands of the 1970s.They synthesized surging local pride in the context of a worldwide musical revolution—in essence, rock ‘n’ roll.This release is especially welcome because it brings to light a talented and important Zimbabwean act that has remained unknown outside the country.Zexie Manatasa and the Green Arrows came of age in an era when black Rhodesians (soon to be Zimbabweans) were feverishly embracing new artistic formulas.Musicians were looking for sounds to excite a public that was awakening from a long political and cultural slumber.The Green Arrows’ music is eccentric and exuberant and it communicates the urban spirit of 1970s Zimbabwe in a way that still sounds fresh today.
Brothers Zexie and Stanley Manatsa formed their first act playing South African styles for copper miners in 1957.The Green Arrows came together as a family band in 1969 with brothers Stanley and brother Keddias on guitars, and Zexie on bass and lead vocal.After some wandering and personnel changes, the band hit its stride in Harare in 1973, playing long, day-and-night weekend concerts and keeping the crowd moving with their exceptionally strong rhythm section.The music was a fusion of rumba, local jit (village songs) and especially the South African genres Zexie loved most: mbaqanga, kwela and marabi.In 1974, South African producer West Nkosi scouted the band performing at the Jamaica Inn and decided then and there to make them a project.As a foreign producer, Nkosi had to prove himself.Bring a fuzz box and a wah-wah pedal, heretofore unheard in Rhodesian pop music, was a start.But the relationship really solidified when one of the first singles Nkosi produced sold 25,000 copies and became the country’s first local gold disc.
The breakthrough record was “Chipo Chiroorwa,” a wedding song.Listening back, what is unique is the song’s squirrely groove, a mad fusion of rumba sensuality. jazz swing, mbqanga brashness and a distinctly Zimbabwean 12/8 rhythm.It’s a groove the band would favor ever after and it recurs on a number of these irresistible tracks.There are also more straight-ahead mbaqanga numbers, including “Vaparidzi Vawanda,” Zexie’s famous complaint about “too many preachers.”(Years later, Zexie himself would become an evangelical Christian, and a preacher.In recent year, he’s revived his musical career playing mostly gospel music with his kids as his band.)
Zexie tended towards love songs and story songs, and he wasn’t above a little commercial pandering.A 2-minute 1975 song called “Towering Inferno,” is a remarkable era artifact.In a departure from form, Zexie sings in English, co-opts the emerging reggae sound, as well as the buzz and drama surrounding the year’s blockbuster disaster flick.It’s a gem.
Some of these 20 songs, like the early “Chitima Ntitakure” prefigure the driving, 12/8 sound that the Bhundu Boys would later market around the world as “jit.”(The term has at least 2 meanings, so watch out.)The song “Madzangara Dzimu” delves into Shona traditional music, with a driving 12/8 groove and a chord progression right out of the country’s signature mbira repertoire.This and a few other Green Arrows songs also had political overtones.In the context of the liberation struggle, that carried dangers, and in one case Zexie spent a few nights in jail for performing “Madzangara Dzimu.”Politics, like the transformation of indigenous music into pop, were ideas in the air at the time, and the Green Arrows embraced them enthusiastically and gave them the band’s stamp.In the end, though, this band mostly was out to make people party and dance, and with this overdue release, they continue to do that today.Compiled and annotated by Samy Ben Redjeb, this is a model compilation with excellent notes that put the music in context and even convey the personalities of the artists.This release is the first in Ben Redjeb’s Africa Analog series.We look forward to much more!
"Chipo Chiroorwa"
