History tried to drown W.I.T.C.H., but they've resurfaced a miraculous 39 years after the release of their last album with a new offering that's arguably on par with their best work, truly delivering for those who enjoy delayed satisfaction. The road to Zango, to the "meeting place," was hounded by uncertainty due to the ravages of age and malaise of the pandemic, yet they refused to stay down.
The first incarnation of W.I.T.C.H. (or We Intend to Cause Havoc) was helmed by vocalist Emmanuel 'Jagari' Chanda in 1970s Zambia. They forged the genre of Zamrock out of an infatuation with the wah wah and fuzz of western funk and psychedelic rock as well as the exuberance of afrobeat and highlife. They reflected the hope and heartache of the times, but a collapsing economy and encroaching authoritarianism eventually lead to Jagari leaving the band in 1977, and W.I.T.C.H. relocated to Zimbabwe.
After Jagari's departure, keyboardist and synthesist Patrick Mwondela took a foundational role in W.I.T.C.H. for a couple albums. Mwondela pushed the band toward modern disco, funk and reggae territory with 1980's Movin' On and their final effort, 1984s's Kuomboka. He took them closer to Quincy Jones, Kiki Gyan, and Toots & the Maytals than Jimi Hendrix, Link Wray, and the Rolling Stones ("Jagari" was an Africanization of Mick Jagger's surname).
Unfortunately, the band drifted into obscurity after the mid-'80s — Mwondela moved to the UK while Jagari became a miner, still chiseling for amethyst on a small-scale even as the band's hype grew roots in a new millennium.
Now-Again Records brought most of W.I.T.C.H.'s recorded catalogue to the awareness of modern crate-diggers in 2011, and Gio Arlotta's documentary We Intend to Cause Havoc made it stick in 2019. Seemingly out of nowhere, Zamrock was back, the band reformed with Jagari and Mwondela joined by an eclectic crew of multi-international, multi-generational talents such as Dutch percussionist Nico Mauskoviç (Eerie Wanda, Mauskoviç Dance Band), bassist Jacco Gardner, Bulgarian guitarist Stefan Lilov (L'Eclair) and German guitarist JJ Whitefield (a.k.a. Jan Weissenfeldt of Karl Hector & the Malcouns and Poets of Rhythm). They hit stages as far away as Paris and Moscow, places they'd never performed in their heyday, but before they could get ahead of themselves, the pandemic delay forced the project to stew in its own creative juices.
Undeterred, W.I.T.C.H. managed to gain access to DB Studios in 2021, thanks to legendary engineer Peter Musungilo. They had recorded their seminal 1975 album Lazy Bones at DB, which had become something of a Zamrock museum in the decades since. All of the original equipment from those pivotal sessions was still there, albeit in various states of disrepair. Musungilo's partner Michael Linyama spent much of his time there soldering it all back into working order, but it was worth it to recapture the band's vintage sound, recorded live to 8-track tape on finicky analogue equipment in Lusaka, Zambia. The result of their collective effort is Zango, a meeting place where all ideas and perspectives are considered equally, and it all sounds perfectly witchy.
Co-produced by engineer Jasper Geluk, Zango was mixed and produced by Gardner, who, in addition to playing bass with W.I.T.C.H. has mixed, recorded and/or produced, alongside Geluk, almost everything Altın Gün has ever released. The Dutchmen make their kaleidoscopic presence known at the console here.
Kicking the album off with a bang, "By the Time You Realize" is a mesmerizing juxtaposition of uplifting keys and reggae-twang guitar with a crashing fuzz bomb riff and soul-searching lyrics that speak of love and life in stressful times. It addresses hurt, but it feels relentlessly fun like Forro in the Dark jamming with sick Sabbathy guitarist Jack Sharp.
With anti-witchcraft lyrics inspired by Tolomeo Bwalya, "Stop the Rot" has Jagari sounding shamanic over a rolling fuzz guitar instrumental with crisp drums. The added shaker and tambourine of K. Flint Mabuluki heats things up to a Budos Band/Black Mountain boil.
In addition to gracing the background of several tracks, Theresa Ng'ambi and Hanna Tembo take the lead on the Rhodes-laden disco-funk of "Unimvwesha Shuga" and the simmering dub of "Malango," while Zambian poet and singer Sampa the Great delivers a scintillating guest appearance on the smouldering space-voodoo jam "Avalanche of Love," a stunning duet where Jagari gives his best impression of the Cramps' Lux Interior at his most Elvis-y. These appearances give Zango a powerfully feminine touch that had little presence on the band's output from the '70s, yet shone brightly throughout Movin' On, thanks to the soaring vocals of Christine Jackson.
W.I.T.C.H. wear a lot of hats on Zango, and the band look good in all of them. There's such good balance throughout the album, of light and dark, new and old, masculine and feminine, humor and heartache. It feels like a necessary step forward, building on a legacy and evolving it for the now rather than merely cashing in. They created a challenging yet safe space, an offering of true love. This is how you turn a spark into a flame.
(Desert Daze Sound)The first incarnation of W.I.T.C.H. (or We Intend to Cause Havoc) was helmed by vocalist Emmanuel 'Jagari' Chanda in 1970s Zambia. They forged the genre of Zamrock out of an infatuation with the wah wah and fuzz of western funk and psychedelic rock as well as the exuberance of afrobeat and highlife. They reflected the hope and heartache of the times, but a collapsing economy and encroaching authoritarianism eventually lead to Jagari leaving the band in 1977, and W.I.T.C.H. relocated to Zimbabwe.
After Jagari's departure, keyboardist and synthesist Patrick Mwondela took a foundational role in W.I.T.C.H. for a couple albums. Mwondela pushed the band toward modern disco, funk and reggae territory with 1980's Movin' On and their final effort, 1984s's Kuomboka. He took them closer to Quincy Jones, Kiki Gyan, and Toots & the Maytals than Jimi Hendrix, Link Wray, and the Rolling Stones ("Jagari" was an Africanization of Mick Jagger's surname).
Unfortunately, the band drifted into obscurity after the mid-'80s — Mwondela moved to the UK while Jagari became a miner, still chiseling for amethyst on a small-scale even as the band's hype grew roots in a new millennium.
Now-Again Records brought most of W.I.T.C.H.'s recorded catalogue to the awareness of modern crate-diggers in 2011, and Gio Arlotta's documentary We Intend to Cause Havoc made it stick in 2019. Seemingly out of nowhere, Zamrock was back, the band reformed with Jagari and Mwondela joined by an eclectic crew of multi-international, multi-generational talents such as Dutch percussionist Nico Mauskoviç (Eerie Wanda, Mauskoviç Dance Band), bassist Jacco Gardner, Bulgarian guitarist Stefan Lilov (L'Eclair) and German guitarist JJ Whitefield (a.k.a. Jan Weissenfeldt of Karl Hector & the Malcouns and Poets of Rhythm). They hit stages as far away as Paris and Moscow, places they'd never performed in their heyday, but before they could get ahead of themselves, the pandemic delay forced the project to stew in its own creative juices.
Undeterred, W.I.T.C.H. managed to gain access to DB Studios in 2021, thanks to legendary engineer Peter Musungilo. They had recorded their seminal 1975 album Lazy Bones at DB, which had become something of a Zamrock museum in the decades since. All of the original equipment from those pivotal sessions was still there, albeit in various states of disrepair. Musungilo's partner Michael Linyama spent much of his time there soldering it all back into working order, but it was worth it to recapture the band's vintage sound, recorded live to 8-track tape on finicky analogue equipment in Lusaka, Zambia. The result of their collective effort is Zango, a meeting place where all ideas and perspectives are considered equally, and it all sounds perfectly witchy.
Co-produced by engineer Jasper Geluk, Zango was mixed and produced by Gardner, who, in addition to playing bass with W.I.T.C.H. has mixed, recorded and/or produced, alongside Geluk, almost everything Altın Gün has ever released. The Dutchmen make their kaleidoscopic presence known at the console here.
Kicking the album off with a bang, "By the Time You Realize" is a mesmerizing juxtaposition of uplifting keys and reggae-twang guitar with a crashing fuzz bomb riff and soul-searching lyrics that speak of love and life in stressful times. It addresses hurt, but it feels relentlessly fun like Forro in the Dark jamming with sick Sabbathy guitarist Jack Sharp.
With anti-witchcraft lyrics inspired by Tolomeo Bwalya, "Stop the Rot" has Jagari sounding shamanic over a rolling fuzz guitar instrumental with crisp drums. The added shaker and tambourine of K. Flint Mabuluki heats things up to a Budos Band/Black Mountain boil.
In addition to gracing the background of several tracks, Theresa Ng'ambi and Hanna Tembo take the lead on the Rhodes-laden disco-funk of "Unimvwesha Shuga" and the simmering dub of "Malango," while Zambian poet and singer Sampa the Great delivers a scintillating guest appearance on the smouldering space-voodoo jam "Avalanche of Love," a stunning duet where Jagari gives his best impression of the Cramps' Lux Interior at his most Elvis-y. These appearances give Zango a powerfully feminine touch that had little presence on the band's output from the '70s, yet shone brightly throughout Movin' On, thanks to the soaring vocals of Christine Jackson.
W.I.T.C.H. wear a lot of hats on Zango, and the band look good in all of them. There's such good balance throughout the album, of light and dark, new and old, masculine and feminine, humor and heartache. It feels like a necessary step forward, building on a legacy and evolving it for the now rather than merely cashing in. They created a challenging yet safe space, an offering of true love. This is how you turn a spark into a flame.