By the time Zambia achieved independence in 1964, banjo and guitar player Alick Nkhata was widely regarded as a beloved cultural statesman – but in the years since, he has slipped from the history books. Born in 1922, he served in the King’s African Rifles during World War Two, honing his skills as a musician and exchanging songs with Kenyan, Zimbabwean and British soldiers, influences which he went on to combine with traditional Bemba idioms and emerging guitar styles from Zambia’s rapidly industrialising Copperbelt region.
During the 1950s, his songs – like ‘Lidzafika liti dzuwa lopulumuka’ (‘When Will Freedom Day Come’) – were ubiquitous on Zambian radio, holding up a mirror to a changing society, and providing a voice for the country’s national struggle.
