Musi-O-Tunya

Rikki Ililonga is considered to be the 1970's Zambian "Zamrock" godfather. Together with his groundbreaking band Musi-O-Tunya, Ililonga rose to fame within the boundaries of his homeland, but like other Zambian musicians of the time, was largely ignored by the rest of the world. When Ililonga played with Musi-O-Tunya, the music was nothing short of mind-blowing, blending distinctly African rhythms with an often-understated sax, some of the most impossibly busy bass lines ever encountered and battered by a firestorm of Ililonga’s psychedelic fuzz guitar. Ililonga’s vocals soar above the instruments, and he is clearly a formidable frontman. Traditional call and response vocal motifs form a charged interplay.