Lion Songs: Essential Tracks in the Making of Zimbabwe

As an audio companion to his recent biography of Mapfumo, the American writer and guitarist Banning Eyre has compiled 14 key tracks that chronicle the Zimbabwean legend's storied career, recorded over almost 40 years. They include early classics such as ‘Ngoma Yarira’ (The Drums are Sounding), recorded with the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band in 1973 and the Acid Band's ‘Pamuromo Chete’ (It's Only Talk), a 1977 broadside against Rhodesian prime minister Ian Smith that has never previously been released internationally. Then there are the famous chimurenga singles that soundtracked the liberation war and 1987's classic ‘Corruption’, on which his disillusionment with the new regime was first given voice. There are also recent 21st-century trenchant critiques of Mugabe, recorded in exile in the US. In the style of Bob Marley's Talking Blues album, the songs are interspersed with nine short excerpts from interviews with Thomas Mapfumo, his deep, reverberating voice filling in the gaps in the story.

There are many fine and essential Mapfumo compilations on the market, but this is perhaps the only one that attempts to cover the arc of his entire career on a single disc. Eyre's selections are spot on, too, conveying both the consistency of Mapfumo's respect for tradition and his commitment to change and innovation.