Even when all hell is breaking loose, we’ll always have Gonerfest. Hundreds flock to that distinctly Memphian communal gathering for some respite every year. And with the wide stylistic net they cast for their music festival, Goner Records truly embodies an inclusive, inquisitive spirit. This year, the festival’s 22nd, will be no different, with all-over-the-map headliners like Lightning Bolt, Radioactivity, Silkworm, and Snooper.
But the final headliner is literally from all over the map: Zambia. Goner has been on a roll in bringing heretofore unheard African music to the city, as when Nigeria’s Etran de L’Aïr caused a sensation at last year’s fest with the gallop of their hypnotic-yet-rousing sound. This year, Goner brings us W.I.T.C.H., short for “We Intend to Cause Havoc,” a band dating back to Zambia’s rough-and-tumble post-independence era of the ’70s, now enjoying a spectacular comeback. But while Etran de L’Aïr’s uniquely cascading guitar attack was built on a foundation of more familiar Nigerian Afrobeat rhythms, W.I.T.C.H. hits very differently. W.I.T.C.H. flat-out rocks.
This is equally true of their early work, most famously collected in an eponymous 2012 Now-Again Records box set proffering “the complete works of Zambia’s legendary garage-psych-prog-funk-Afro-rock ensemble, 1972-77,” and their recent albums Zango and Sogolo, released in 2023 and 2025, respectively, partly in response to that box set’s popularity. Best of all, even the new albums exude the murky vibe of a dusty crate of Zambian LPs you might find in a Lusaka flea market.
Yet the music cuts through all historical context. One minute, you’re grooving to winding guitar arpeggios akin to Zimbabwe’s megastar Thomas Mapfumo; then you’ll do a double take at the sound of chunky power chords and Farfisa. It’s why such Zambian music earned its own tag, “Zamrock,” and for long stretches of a W.I.T.C.H. album, you may think you’re listening to Arthur Lee’s Love.
That’s partly due to Zambian radio. “Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Malawi were all under the same British rule,” says singer Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, who founded the band. “So the British exported their cultural activities into our country. We started drinking tea at 4 o’clock. We started driving on the left. And very different things came in, including the guitar. There was only one radio station for all three countries, in what was called Salisbury, now Harare [Zimbabwe]. They played Top of the Pops, the U.K. hits, American hits. Then we learned about James Brown, who eventually visited Zambia in 1970 and we had a chance to watch him perform. And we listened to bands: Deep Purple, Grand Funk Railroad, The Rolling Stones, many others.”
Yet the dominance of British culture, even after independence in 1964, did not overwhelm local identities, and traditional Zambian music is also woven into the unique sound of W.I.T.C.H. “There are about 72 ethnic groups in Zambia, but I wouldn’t want to emphasize their differences,” says Chanda. “We are Zambians, one nation. From there, I must pick the materials to construct and craft music that embraces all the 72 groups.”
Keyboardist Patrick Mwondela, who joined in 1980 at the “disco” end of the band’s first run, says the blend they perfected 40-50 years ago still informs the music made by today’s version of the band, which now includes some European players. But new influences are at work as well. “The new music still has the criss-cross rhythms, the call and response — all those characters that are in our music. We’re thinking about all those things, but also adding the influence of the musicians that came to work with us, bringing references to the modern stuff they’re listening to, including a bit of electronic music.”
Even the new songs deal with traditions that still haunt the country. “There’s one newer song called ‘Stop the Rot,’ in which we are condemning witchcraft practices,” says Chanda. “We hope the people listen and try to change because it doesn’t benefit anybody, this bewitching one another. If you are flying naked at night on a broomstick, using human blood, maybe even that of a relative, whose benefit is that?”
Gonerfest 22 takes place Thursday, September 25th, to Saturday, September 27th, at Wiseacre Brewery on Broad, and Sunday, September 28th, at the Overton Park Shell. W.I.T.C.H. tops the bill on Friday, September 26th.
