1. Khala My Friend by Amanaz
Let's start this week in Zambia’s 1970s music scene with Khala My Friend. This song comes from the so-called “Zam-rock” genre developed throughout the decade, a style influenced both by the psychedelic energy of Jimi Hendrix and the soulful funk of James Brown.
From what I’ve read, the genre's growth was driven by a Zambian government law which mandated that 95% of music on the country’s radio had to come from native Zambian musicians. This prompted local artists to take popular American music of the times and make it their own, one such group being Amanaz.
The five-piece Zambian rock band formed in 1973 and released their one and only album Africa two years later. The album’s 12 tracks vary hugely in style, tied together only by the baritone of lead singer Keith Kabwe, but there are two semi-acoustic ballads: Sunday Morning and Khala My Friend, which both invite clear comparisons to The Velvet Underground.
But Khala My Friend carries a weight of its own, beautifully capturing the fuzzy melancholy that permeates the entire album. Amanaz’s five members were anti-colonial freedom fighters who wrote music to reflect the lived experience of suffering in their homeland – at the time a ‘new’ African nation. As such, Khala My Friend is a song of love and solidarity. There's a kindness to its sound but also a defiant resilience at its core.
Unfortunately, the Zam-rock scene was short-lived, toppled by an economic recession that hit the country in the late 70s, and not many songs remain from the genre’s heyday, making Khala My Friend and the bygone era it represents all-the-more interesting.
2. If You See Her, Say Hello – Take 1 by Bob Dylan
Sticking with the 70s theme, song #2 for this week is a Bob Dylan favourite, If You See Her, Say Hello.
Several versions have been released over the years, but my favourite is Take 1 from The Bootleg Series Vol. 14 because of the conversational pace at which the song moves. It makes Dylan’s words feel so tangible – as if he's really engaging with you the listener in real-time, telling you about an ex-love.
In one of author Clinton Heylin’s many Dylan biographies, he describes succinctly: “If You See Her, Say Hello has been written down with the ink still wet from last night’s tears.” A bit dramatic, sure, but he’s not wrong: the song’s lyrics are piercing, and the second verse especially hits like a punch to the gut ---
We had a falling out, like lovers often will
and to think of how she left that night, it still brings me a chill
and though our separation, it pierced me to the heart
she still lives inside of me, we’ve never been apart
Leave it to Dylan to make every song a poem, and there's something especially monumental about the heartbreak conveyed in this one. We're not just hearing about any parting of lovers, but a goodbye whose pain lingers long after. You can feel, too, in the way he speaks so cautiously – at times revealing his inner thoughts only to then regain composure, as if being careful to not show too much.
3. Dark Storm by Mimi Gilbert
Indie-folk singer Mimi Gilbert released her latest single Dark Storm this week in anticipation for her upcoming album, due October 23rd. She’s come out with two other songs off the album so far, Society’s A Mansion and Grew Inside the Water – both already setting a great stage for the rest of the collection.
But Dark Storm shows a heavier, edgier side to Gilbert’s songwriting, offering one of her strongest melodies to date. She’s no stranger to amplifying vulnerability in her music but I’ve never heard her sing so loudly and freely about it. It’s incredibly cathartic to hear the way her voice takes off with the music in the chorus only to crash down again on the verses.
Sharing the song, she described it as a “tribute to everyone who has punched holes in walls, to those who strive to take what is ugly and churn it back into the soil again.”
4. You & Me Song by The Wannadies
Another newly released single comes from Joy Crookes with her cover of Swedish band The Wannadies’ You & Me Song. While I love her gentle, dreamier spin on the track, there’s an unrestrained elation in the original that the cover can't meet.
You & Me Song was The Wannadies’ biggest hit, unmatched by anything released by the band before or since. It’s an infectiously happy love song and an incredible melting pot of genres: just as you’re ready to sink into the verses of light, jazzy finger-plucking, you’re suddenly propelled off into the crazed rock chorus, carried away by an orchestra of sound. It’s a joy to listen to.
Listen on Spotify to all 'Songs of the Week' here.
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