WOMAD

Thomas Mapfumo and The Blacks Unlimited

From Zimbabwe

Thomas Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, a small town south of the Rhodesian capital, Salisbury. He spent his first ten years living in the countryside with his grandparents, tending cattle herds, and waking up long before sunrise to do chores before school. Though Rhodesia was moving inexorably toward racial civil war, Thomas was living an old-fashioned, traditional life, mostly removed from the bitterness building in the cities and townships. Traditional children's tunes, songs of celebration accompanied by the drums called ngoma, and especially, the sacred music of the metal-pronged mbira, an instrument whose beautiful, cycling melodies could summon the presence of ancestor spirits-these things formed the basis of Thomas's musical personality, a force that continues to shape the history and spiritual life of his country. As Thomas moved on to work first with the Acid Band, and then with the Blacks Unlimited, everything came together. Thomas's lyrics reflected the concerns of the people around him-hardships in the rural areas, young men heading into the bush to fight Zimbabwe's bitter war for independence, and a rising sense of indignation at white rulers who had systematically devalued Shona culture for four generations. Thomas's chimurenga singles captured the imagination of blacks nation-wide. Near the end of war, the out-maneuvered Rhodesians arrested Thomas briefly and attempted to use him to rally support for a last desperate attempt to hold onto some vestige of power. But the tide of history had turned, and in 1980, Robert Mugabe was elected president of a new nation. That year, Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited shared the stage in Salisbury (now called Harare) with Bob Marley and the Wailers. This year, 2005, Thomas' music is again banned in Zimbabwe. He lives in virtual exile with his family and band in the US. Still, his yearly releases in Zimbabwe sell out in a few days, despite being banned from the government airwaves. His tours have taken him to the finest World Music venues, WOMAD, Summerjam, The Cactus Festival, The Houston International Festival, Detroit's Symphony Hall, Central Park Summerstage, Celebrate Brooklyn, The Grassroots Festival, Bright Moments, all over the USA, yearly from 1998 through 2005. His Christmas and New Years shows in Zimbabwe in 2001 and 2002 packed as many as 14,000 devout fans to revel at the fire. His live shows transfix the audience, taking them to his plane of musical spiritual possession; they dance until the lights come on, and go home smiling. The electric mbiras lay the beat for the guitar, bass, and drums, which pulse out the Chimurenga style, both masters and creators of a unique musical genre. The full 10 - 12 piece band blows like a hurricane. The smaller groupings smolder and ignite. It's the ROOT of the Roots, something that must be experienced. Honored with a Master's Degree in Music from the University of Zimbabwe and Artist of the Year from the American World Music Awards in 1999, a PhD in Music from Ohio University and Zimbabwe's Person of the Century in the Art's Award in 2000, Thomas' achievements continue to grow. His 2000 release, "Chimurenga Explosion", won AFIM's Best World Contemporary CD Award in March 2001. All his aNOnym reCOrds releases have found their place in "The Top 10" for their respective years, in places like the Village Voice, Beat Magazine, and Afropop Worldwide. His June 25 2002 double release, "Manhungetunge/Chimurenga Rebel", was ballistic. 2003's blockbuster, "Toi Toi", immediately became the #1 top seller in Zimbabwe on cassette. This year Thomas has breached into the virtual with a digital only mp3 release of "Rise Up" , independently released by Thomas himself, worldwide. He is one of the first African artists to gain control to the rights to his music, and he continues each day his lifelong struggle to protect those rights, and benefit from the sales of his music, his name, in whatever form. This new millennium finds Thomas Mapfumo an international force in World Music, still composing, recording, performing and touring unceasingly, and destined to live in every African Music Hall of Fame worldwide, forever.