Listening to WITCH’s five-minute track, one will assume the band playing is the 60’s the Kinks or the Animals, and not Zambia’s 1974 blues-rock band.
“We Intend to Cause Havoc” is considered the country’s top rock band from the era, and was part of the musical style Zamrock, emerging during a period when local bands flourished after the country’s independence from Britain. Though later regimes showed little tolerance of rebellious elements from popular culture, the 70’s saw the years when president Kaunda’s legislation required all radio stations to play 95% Zambian recordings.
The blues-funk band’s streak of national success – as well as that of many others – was cut short by political turmoil, and by subsequent restrictions leading to regular curfews which made night-time performances impossible. Witch’s lead singer Jagari (Emmanuel Changa) took long breaks from performing from the 1980’s and worked as a teacher.
Further problems leading to the breakup of several bands was the drop in the market price of copper (a major national export) as well as the 90’s AIDS epidemic.
The disease is known to have killed at least 1 200 000 in the country and affected several Zambian musicians. By 2001, every member of WITCH, except for Jagari, had died of AIDS.
Photo: https://www.thevinylfactory.com/features/reissued-on-vinyl-how-zamrock-outfit-witch-penned-the-forgotten-disco-masterpiece-movin-on