Pick of the Week - Hallelujah Chicken Run Band (Zimbabwe)

A reissue of music from "the band that modernised Zimbabwean music."

There's plenty to like about Analog Africa's reissue of Hallelujah Chicken Run Band's Take One, which "collects the HCR Band’s biggest hits along with several rare tracks recorded between 1974 and 1979, all painstakingly remastered from original master tapes and vinyl sources."

I narrowed it down to one song - "Mwana Wamai Dada Naye" - but there are 13 others that are just as worthy of your attention. The group's best-known member was Thomas Mapfumo, who probably needs no introduction to anyone who listens to Zimbabwean music.

Here's a snip from Analog Africa's description. Read the whole thing at the Bandcamp listing. While you're at it, make sure to check out all their other fine offerings.

The band came into being when a young trumpet player named Daram Karanga offered to assemble a group to entertain the workers at a copper mine in the town of Mhangura. The original line-up – which included legendary singer Thomas Mapfumo, who would bring the sounds of Chimurenga to the world in the early 1980s with his band the Blacks Unlimited, and Joshua Hlomayi, one of the pioneers of mbira- style guitar – started out playing the Rumba and Afro-Rock styles popular in the capital. Although this was a hit with the white owners of the mine, the workers greeted it with indifference. But when they started adding electric arrangements of traditional Shona music to their repertoire, the audience went wild.

With the addition of “Zim” sounds to their arsenal, the HCR Band became unstoppable. Their reputation spread quickly and, in 1974, they were invited to the capital to compete in a national music contest organised by the South-African Teal label. Not only did they win the competition, but they also attracted the attention of famed producer Crispen Matema, who quickly organised their first recording sessions. On their first day at Jameson House studios, they recorded half a dozen songs, including “Ngoma Yarira” and “Murembo”, two singles that would alter the course of Zimbabwean popular music.