Aunka Ma Kwacha, by Smokey Haangala

Aunka Ma Kwacha

by Smokey Haangala

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$8 USD or more
Remastered DMM Vinyl
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
LP with risograph insert.

Includes unlimited streaming of Aunka Ma Kwacha via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	Saanguna Lyoole 02:36	buy track
2.	Amafuna Kanyama 03:22	buy track
3.	Cinyala Munyanaka 03:14	buy track
4.	Read it Again 03:20	buy track
5.	Tulondoke 03:29	buy track
6.	Flowers on My Grave 03:38	buy track
7.	Lungowe 03:34	buy track
8.	Ma Kwacha No. 2 03:04	buy track
9.	Times and Changes 04:06	buy track
10.	Ndausa 03:28	buy track
11.	Iwe Maliya 03:01	buy track
12.	Maybe Tomorrow 02:31	buy track

about

There is music that falls right into place, a perfectly articulated expression of a few distinct influences. Then, there is another kind of median music, something more mysterious, the result of time, place, technology, and alchemy. Zambian writer and musician Smokey Haangala’s Aunka Ma Kwacha (The Money is Gone) released in 1976 is an example of this more mystical metallurgy, falling somewhere between psychedelic Zamrock, US folk, Kalindula, and Sundown Beat (music played after dark) from Tongaland. The unique mix of languages on the album (Bemba, Tonga, Lozi, and English) also suggest this complex cultural crossroads. Underlying the whole album is the insistent beat of a simple drum machine, which was totally unheard of in Zambia at the time, and parallels pioneering experiments by Francis Bebey, Sly Stone, and Shuggie Otis, utilizing a technology which would later come to define dance music. Then there’s the album’s original artwork by Peter Kependa, done in style similar to the infamous Jamaican dancehall illustratorWilfred Limonious, interpreting the album’s title and primary theme; the burden of financial inequality. In this sense the album is political, but the theme is extrapolated and explored through its impact on personal life; love, marriage, social status, and diet. The album is full of cautionary tales, folklore and references to magic, aspects of Zambian culture simultaneously mystifying and alluring to outsiders, part of what attracted Western readers to Nigerian writer Amos Tutuola’s hallucinatory Yoruba folktales. After becoming a household name in Zambia for his music, writing, and television appearances, Smokey Haangala died at the age of 38, the very week his book The Black Eye was published, abruptly ending his brilliant and ascending career. We are lucky to have his inimitable work to remember him by, Aunka Ma Kwacha resting comfortably in the pantheon of re-visionary works by Rodriguez, Kissoon Ramasar, TJ Hustler, and William Onyeabor. There will always be some flowers for your grave, Smokey.

credits

released November 25, 2019

Recorded At – Malachite Film Studios, Chingola - September 27th & 28th, and October 18th, 1977.

Engineers – Geoffrey Mulenga, Richard Hughes

Smokey Haangala - Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Bass Guitar, Lead Vocals & Backing Vocals
Swithin Haangala - Kangoma (A1, B5)
Brian Haangala - Kangoma (B6)
Happy Mulenga - Lead Vocals (A5, B5)
Electronic Rhythm Composer - Drums

Illustration – Peter Kapenda
Photography - Eddie Karin

Reissue production by Adam Watson & Brandon Hocura
Re-mastered by Brandon Hocura

Very special thanks to Swinthin Haangala, Jason Connoy and Calum MacNaughton

license

about

Smokey Haangala Zambia

contact / help

Contact Smokey Haangala

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Smokey Haangala, you may also like:

Mother Earth's Plantasia
by Mort Garson

supported by 17 fans who also own “Aunka Ma Kwacha”

this album just really planted in my soil and grew onto me. this lovely album really knows how to take care of my emotions as well as the plants around me that also dance to these songs as well as I do. full spathiphyllum swing! may the rest of the world find and cherish this peace for all eternity! ( ? )
go to album
Drum Dance to the Motherland
by Khan Jamal Creative Arts Ensemble

supported by 16 fans who also own “Aunka Ma Kwacha”

Smoked out, psychedelic jambiance. For fans of Don Cherry 🍒 👽🍹
go to album
Demos (1973-75) Volumes 1&2
by Azymuth

supported by 16 fans who also own “Aunka Ma Kwacha”

Bummed i slept on the physical release, Still, this is sounding badass through the work stereo on a rainy weekend. Magical Musix Gaz
go to album
JOOLA JAZZ
by IBAAKU

Influenced by spiritual jazz, Afrobeat, and various forms of African club music, the Senegalese producer's grooves contain multitudes. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 25, 2024
go to album
MIGRX
by Vitu Valera

Vitu Valera gives Afro-Preuvian sounds a fresh and innovative update with influences from dembow, baile funk, and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 7, 2023
go to album
Sheshe
by Vudufa

featured on Bandcamp Radio Aug 8, 2023
go to album
Jazz in Detroit / Strata Concert Gallery / 46 Selden
by Charles Mingus

supported by 15 fans who also own “Aunka Ma Kwacha”

Mingus live is the best. eManRenaissanc
go to album