When Zimbabwean Thomas Mapfumo started making music nearly half a century ago, the world looked a little different.
Zimbabwe was the white-ruled nation of Rhodesia, Robert Mugabe was a freedom fighter and the country’s currency came in denominations smaller than $5 billion. But four decades later and a continent away, some things haven’t changed.
“Most of our songs have always been about freedom,” Mapfumo said. “And it’s no longer for Zimbabwe only, it’s for the whole world.... It’s the duty of every musician to see that they’re actually singing for peace.”
Of course, all of that is easier said than done when you come from a country like Zimbabwe, where the political landscape is scarred with repression. When Mapfumo was growing up in a crowded township outside of Salisbury (now Harare), listening to the crooning of Elvis Presley and Otis Redding on his family’s lone radio, the country around him was falling apart. Year after year, protests against the brutal white regime rocked the city, and by the time Mapfumo was in his mid-20s, Rhodesia stood on the brink of revolution.
It was at this critical moment that he found his footing as a musician. In the early 1970s, Mapfumo and his band the Blacks Unlimited solidified an afro-pop style that they called “chimeranga”—the Shona word for struggle. His rich, polyrhythmic tunes drew on both traditional southern African melodies and instruments as well as the western rock and soul music that he had grown up loving. But the music also had a uniquely Zimbabwean flare as a critique of the Ian Smith government, and it wasn’t long before one of Mapfumo’s songs landed him in jail. But for the musician, this was only a confirmation that he was doing something right.
“Chimeranga music is meant to be the voice of the voiceless,” he said. “It’s for people who can’t speak for themselves. The music is there to speak for them.”
Director of Duke Performances Aaron Greenwald is quick to point out, though, that Mapfumo’s songs are more than just an instrument of social change.
“He’s managed to make music that’s both political and that people want to dance to,” he said. “You’ll want to move to this music.”
To that end, Greenwald scheduled Mapfumo to play in the Duke Coffeehouse, which he calls the campus’ best venue for dancing. He characterized the concert this evening as “an incredible musician in a really small room” and added that it will give the Duke and Durham communities a unique opportunity to experience a musician who usually plays for much larger audiences.
Mapfumo also expects the experience to be a good one for the band.
“We love to see people dancing to our music,” he said.
That trend will continue in a different way Friday and Saturday as Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited provide backing music for dancer Nora Chipaumire, who will present a piece based on Zimbabwean politics in Reynolds Theater.
Then Mapfumo will head home to Oregon, where he has lived with his family since being forced out of Zimbabwe a decade ago. But it won’t be long before he is back out on tour again this summer, hitting venues across the U.S., Europe and Canada.
“We just want to explain to all these people who we are, where we’re coming from and where we’re going,” he said.
Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited will perform tonight at the Duke Coffeehouse at 8 and 10:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 general admission and $5 for students.
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