**** Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited

LIVE AT EL REY

(Anonymous Web)

Recorded during a 1995 tour when Mapfumo had only the core of his band on hand, this spacious set delivers chimurenga ("struggle") music redux and proves that less is more. Two mbiras, iron-pronged hand pianos, do most of the leg work here, aided melodically only by one of Africa's most rock-solid bass players, Allan Mwale, who unfortunately died this fall. Mwale's limber lines marry the spidery mbira parts with Sam Mukanga's artful drumming. With no horns, guitars, keyboards or back-up singers to clutter up the works, Mapfumo delivers spare, honest renditions of classics ("Hwahwa," "Pfumvu Paruzevha") and also pillars of the traditional mbira repertoire ("Mahororo," "Nyama Musango"). Only "Chikende," a song built around guitar and horn lines, falls short in this setting. If you have ever been moved by one of Mapfumo's many recordings or concert appearances, you owe it to yourself to hear this set -- it's ground zero for one of the most original and enduring sounds in African pop.

-- Banning Eyre