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Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family are yet another group of talented musicians from Zambia. As far as fuzzy rock from Africa goes this might be the daddy of em all. “My Ancestors” almost trudges the stoner rock territory. Tembo’s guitar work is incredible. He shreds over Heavy Deep Purple/Sabbath like riffs as signature funky afro-beats and melodic vocals move the music forward. This stuff is heavy!
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Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi Family My Ancestors (Chris Edition) Zambia is well over a thousand miles from the west African Highlife & Afrobeat scenes, & stylistically the "Zam Rock" of the '70's was on a totally separate, post acid rock trajectory. "My Ancestors" is easily one of the best African psychedelic rock album ever recorded - raw, rough, with a gaping charm & tons of front & center fuzz guitar over basic, ultra catchy rock/pop tunes reminiscent in style to maybe the Velvet Underground (though Id have to guess the similarity is coincidental), with a couple semi heavy proto riff-rockers thrown in. Tembo is the singer/songwriter & drummer, & Paul Ngozi plays fantastic guitar all over this, & a bassist rounds out the basic arrangements. The vox are just wobbly & drugged enough to meet the feel of the music, while on enough to carry the melodies, which are central to the songs. The songs are sung in English & lyrically quite good, which is actually more of a sort of bonus attraction, since this is a feel album & you wouldnt necessarily need to even understand the lyrics to get into it, the feel is so right on. This is the type of record you listen to over & over, feeling great every time. Incidentally it includes the track Oh yeh yeh which was featured in the Love, Peace, & Poetry African comp. Originally released in Zambia in 74.
Paul Dobson Nyirongo (a.k.a. Paul Ngozi) who was know for his spectacular stage antics, that included playing the guitar with his teeth.
Paul Ngozi was adored by Zambian music lovers. His music is also best remembered for his poignant lyrics that reflected the life and times of Zambians. He won many awards and represented Zambian music in both Europe and the United States, and even went on a controversial tour of South Africa at the height of the Apartheid Era.
"To the best of my knowledge, the band was never called Chrissy Zebby Tembo & Ngozi family. The band was called the Ngozi Family Band. Ngozi ( means danger). Chrissy was the drummer, to the best of my knowledge and Paul Ngozi the Lead guitarist was the most influential and band leader and sometimes the band was called Paul Ngozi and the Ngozi Family."
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Tracklist
1. My Ancestors
2. Trouble Maker
3. Loney Night
4. Coffin Maker
5. Oh Yeh Yeh
6. Fisherman
7. I've Been Loosing
8. Feeling Good
9. Gone Forever
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