Dark Sunrise

by Rikki Ililonga and Musi-O- Tunya

I have been giving this incredible double-disc set a lot of play since December, but just realised that I never wrote about it here.

On Dark Sunrise, Egon (the man behind Now-Again Records) has worked his usual magic, pulling together some thirty-one cuts representing the early history of Zam-rock, or rock music from Zambia.  The set focuses on Rikki Ililonga, who is seen as the father of this musical movement.  The first disc holds thirteen tracks by Ililonga's band, Musi-O-Tunya, recorded between 1973 and 1975, when Ililonga left the group.  The second disc has Ililonga on his own, and encompasses his first two solo albums from 1975 and 1976.

The music is very nice.  It's an African-influenced rock music, and many of the lyrics (at least in the songs sung in English - I have no dead what's going on in the others) deal with the political and socioeconomic realities that Ililonga lived in.  "In the township / where I live / there is so much / pain and misery," starts 'The Nature of Man', my favourite song in the collection.  Others are 'One Reply', with its hopeful horns, 'Walk and Fight', 'Stop Dreaming Mr. D', 'The Queen Blues', and 'Love is the Way'.

This is a very impressive collection of music, and as always, Egon and the people at Now-Again have outdone themselves on the detailed liner notes and lovely hardcover book style packaging.