Roots Rocking in Zimbabwe by Fred Zindi

Book

Book includes approx. 100 pictures from the personal collection of Fred Zindi and Samy Ben Redjeb and from the archives of the Parade and Foto Action Magazine.

It was in 1995 that I first encountered the music of Zimbabwe’s superstar, Oliver Mtukudzi! At that time, I was working as a DJ at the Aldiana Hotel, located in Mbour, about 100 km south of Dakar, the capital city of Senegal. To refresh my sets with newer material, the management of the Aldiana complex handed me a catalog of CDs from which I could select. As a holiday destination, playing the hits of the day was essential, so I ordered a whole lot of those. However, there was also an African section, and since I was in West Africa, I thought it would be fitting to ensure that tourists left the country having experienced at least one night of African music. I proposed the idea to the hotel director, who agreed that it was a great idea.

I spent a few days decorating the nightclub, draping fabrics over its octagon-shaped ceiling when finally, the parcel filled with CDs arrived, including a three CDs compilation called "Africa Never Stand Still" on the now-defunct Ellipsis Arts label.

The opening track of that compilation was "Ndiri Bofu" by Oliver Mtukudzi, and I couldn’t stop listening to it. I discovered that the song was part of an album called Shoko, which Oliver had recorded in Berlin for the Piranha label in 1991 and I immediately ordered it. Shoko, which became the soundtrack of my time in Senegal, featured new versions of hits Oliver had recorded during the ’70s and early ’80s and since I became obsessed with these songs I decided to travel to Zimbabwe at the next opportunity to find the original recordings.

I arrived in Harare sometime in 1996, in a country I knew little about, and had to navigate a music scene I was almost entirely unfamiliar with. At that time, there was no internet, and the few books available in Europe attempting to market the newly coined term “world music” were poorly written and very shallow (and I'm being polite). One can only imagine my excitement when I walked into a bookstore in one of Harare’s suburbs and found “Roots Rocking in Zimbabwe” sitting on a shelf. As soon as I opened it, I saw that it included extensive interviews with both Oliver Mtukudzi and Thomas Mapfumo. It was also the first time I came across the name The Green Arrows, the band which would become the subject of Analog Africa's very first release some 10 years later. This book, written by musician Fred Zindi, opened up a whole new world to me, making it much easier to understand the music scene I was so eager to explore.

It became my bible, and when I returned to Harare in 2022, after a 17 year absence, that book travelled with me. Fred Zindi, was a seasoned veteran of the music industry, and so I reached out to him to ask if he would like to help me locate artists for a future music project. When our label manager found out I was in touch with the very person who had written “my bible,” he immediately asked, “And why don’t you ask him if he would allow us to publish it again?”

Zindi, who has had a long and distinguished career in music and is now a renowned professor at the University of Harare, has an unshakable demeanor and when, around a coffee, I asked him if he would license his book to us, he calmly replied, “You’ll give me $200 now and 50% of the profits.” Seizing the moment, I also asked him if he would allow me to use the title of his book for the music compilation I was preparing to which he simply replied, “Feel free to do so.”

And so, 30 years after a lucky discovery in a bookstore, the story has now come full circle, and I am very proud to have the chance to release this wonderful book and bring this incredible music and its history to a whole new generation.

Samy Ben Redjeb
February 2025