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Zambia has had a quiet recent history compared to many of its neighbors, and has produced little music internationally released.
After independence in 1964, the most important source of music was the Zambia Broadcasting Service and affiliated bands like Lusaka Radio Band. Zambian radio was dominated by Congolese rumba. Record companies soon formed, first Peter Msungilo's DB Studios in Lusaka, and then Teal Record Company (a subsidiary of Gallo Records). The city of Ndola, already known for musical innovation, was the next home for Zambian recording studios.
The northern, copper-producing area of Zambia was known for singers like John Lushi, William Mapulanga and Stephen Tsotsi Kasumali. Their guitar-based music grew gradually into Zam-rock, which used mostly English lyrics in rock songs. Bands included the Machine-Gunners and Musi-o-tunya. The most popular band in Zambian history soon emerged, Jaggari Chanda's Great Witch.
In the late 1970s, President Kenneth Kaunda ordered that 95% of the music on the radio had to be Zambian. He hoped to encourage the formation of a Zambian national identity. Rather than using their folk roots, however, Zambians attempted to become pop stars. By the mid-1980s, the result was kalindula music. Bands included the Masasa Band, Serenje Kalindula and Junior Mulemena Boys.
In the 1990s, economic problems caused the collapse of the Zambian music industry. Unfettered by rules promoting Zambian music, the airwaves were covered with imported ragga and reggae from Jamaica and hip hop and R&B from the United States.
References
- Graham, Ronnie and Simon Kandela Tunkanya. "Evolution and Expression". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 702-705. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
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