Lion songs
Subtitle: Thomas Mapfumo and the music that made Zimbabwe
By: Banning Eyre
Publisher: Duke University Press
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 362
ISBN-13: 9780822359081
Subjects: Popular music; History and criticism; Musicians; Revolutionary ballads and songs; Blacks Unlimited (Musical group); Biography
Other titles: Thomas Mapfumo and the music that made Zimbabwe
Description: "Like Fela Kuti and Bob Marley, singer, composer, and bandleader Thomas Mapfumo and his music came to represent his native country's anticolonial struggle and cultural identity. Mapfumo was born in 1945 in what was then the British colony of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). The trajectory of his career--from early performances of rock 'n' roll tunes to later creating a new genre based on traditional Zimbabwean music, including the sacred mbira, and African and Western pop--is a metaphor for Zimbabwe's evolution from colony to independent nation. Lion Songs is an authoritative biography of Mapfumo that narrates the life and career of this creative, complex, and iconic figure. Banning Eyre ties the arc of Mapfumo's career to the history of Zimbabwe. The genre Mapfumo created in the 1970s called chimurenga, or "struggle" music, challenged the Rhodesian government--which banned his music and jailed him--and became important to Zimbabwe achieving independence in 1980. In the 1980s and 1990s Mapfumo's international profile grew along with his opposition to Robert Mugabe's dictatorship. Mugabe had been a hero of the revolution, but Mapfumo's criticism of his regime led authorities and loyalists to turn on the singer with threats and intimidation. Beginning in 2000, Mapfumo and key band and family members left Zimbabwe. Many of them, including Mapfumo, now reside in Eugene, Oregon. A labor of love, Lion Songs is the product of a twenty-five-year friendship and professional relationship between Eyre and Mapfumo that demonstrates Mapfumo's musical and political importance to his nation, its freedom struggle, and its culture."--Book jacket.
Notes: "Glossary": pages 333-335.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 341-343), discography (pages 337-339), and indexes (index of songs and albums; general index).
Table of contents: title: Preamble. Chimurenga nights; title: Rhodesia. England is the chameleon, and I the fly ; Singing Shona ; When the spirit comes ; Songs for the book of history ; Bishop and pawn ; Agony of victory; title: Zimbabwe. Snakes in the forest ; Corruption ; Big daddy and the Zimbabwe playboys ; Sporting lions ; Too many ghosts ; Breaking the cycle; title: America. Striking at empires ; Dancing with devils ; The land of the horses ; Lions in winter.