Kasahwa: Early Singles

An integral part of the chimurenga revolution spearheaded by Thomas Mapfumo during Zimbabwe's liberation struggle, Stella Chiweshe recorded these eight tracks between 1974 and 1983 and they were only ever released locally on now impossible to find seven-inch singles. Their first-ever appearance on CD is most welcome, for although the recording quality is raw and even primitive in places, the performances sparkle like rough diamonds. The title-track (which improbably translates as ‘Innermost Emotional Pain is Like a Fishbone Stuck in the Throat’) was Chiweshe's debut recording and finds her singing a lovely melody in Shona using the simple repetitions of what sounds like a children's nursery rhyme over a bubbling accompaniment of mbira (thumb piano) and shakers. ‘Chipindura’ and ‘Mayaya’ drill deeper into the spiritual and healing properties associated with mbira music and, given the nature of the times, it would be surprising if there are not revolutionary allegories buried in several tracks. ‘Gwendurugwe’, about a game of hide and seek, and ‘Ratidzo’, an instrumental that uses whistling in place of words but which translates as ‘Managing to do What People Considered Impossible’, sound as though they may well contain hidden messages. And could the ‘mountain of white rock’ that falls in ‘Gomoriye’ be an allusion to Ian Smith's racist regime? Either way, it's cracking stuff.