Alick Nkhata - Radio Lusaka
PREORDER - shipping on or around August 15, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on August 15. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders
Country, township jazz, and pop hits from the height of Zambia’s freedom movement.
Vocalist, guitarist, and bandleader Alick Nkhata moved effortlessly between lonesome country slide, big band pop, and air-tight vocal harmonies, all with roots in Bemba and other African traditional songs and rhythms. It’s a dizzying, inclusive, expansive blend from an artist and music archivist who became the voice of his nation’s fight for freedom.
The lyrics and music represent the times - lonesome country laments like “Nafwaya Fwaya” and “Fosta Kayi” drift along the railways to urban centers and copper mines. “Nalikwebele Sonka (I Told You Sonka)”, sung in “deep-Bemba” pairs honey-soaked yodels with a warning about the downward spiral of unemployment in townships, while Mayo Na Bwalya’ (Mother of Bwalya) is a mother’s plea to a traditional songbird for guidance of her wayward son. Songs like “Shalapo,” “Kalindawalo Na Mfumwa,” and his biggest hit, “Imbote,” infuse piano, big band horns, and even early electronic instruments into stunning syncretic pop masterpieces.
This LP is the first time his music is being reissued on vinyl. On high-quality black vinyl with deluxe 12-page booklet with unpublished photos, lyrics, translations, and liner notes written by NTS radio host Jamal Khadar.
credits
releases August 15, 2025
Dedicated to the memory of David T Nkhata
Produced by Cyrus Moussavi and Jamal Khadar
Audio Restoration and Mastering by Jordan McLeod at Osiris Studio Nashville, TN
Liner Notes by Jamal Khadar
Lyric Translations by Ellen Banda-Aaku
Album Artwork by Ella Gold
Liner Note Design by Sam Wenc
Graphic Production and Layout by Dan Fried
Original 78s from the collections of Michael Kieffer, David Nkhata, Mark van Yetter, Rob Allingham, Gordon Ashworth
Licensing by Adam Holofcener
Label Manager Sam Wenc
Label Coordinator Maria Barrios
Mississippi Thanks: The Nkhata Family, Gordon Ashworth, Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, Africa Munyama, Simeon Allen, Rob Allingham, Michael Kieffer, Mark van Yetter
The Nkhata Family would like to thank:
David T Nkhata
The Alick Nkhata Foundation board members: Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Mumba Kapumpa, Robert Liebenthal, David Musunga, Daisy Ng'ambi, Gilbert Temba
Ellen Banda-Aaku
Africa Munyama
The extended family: Banda, Kapotwe, Musunga, Munyama, Nkhata, Nsomi
Friends of the Nkhata family
Joyce Jenje-Makwenda
Jamal Khadar
PREORDER - shipping on or around August 15, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on August 15. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders
Country, township jazz, and pop hits from the height of Zambia’s freedom movement.
Vocalist, guitarist, and bandleader Alick Nkhata moved effortlessly between lonesome country slide, big band pop, and air-tight vocal harmonies, all with roots in Bemba and other African traditional songs and rhythms. It’s a dizzying, inclusive, expansive blend from an artist and music archivist who became the voice of his nation’s fight for freedom.
The lyrics and music represent the times - lonesome country laments like “Nafwaya Fwaya” and “Fosta Kayi” drift along the railways to urban centers and copper mines. “Nalikwebele Sonka (I Told You Sonka)”, sung in “deep-Bemba” pairs honey-soaked yodels with a warning about the downward spiral of unemployment in townships, while Mayo Na Bwalya’ (Mother of Bwalya) is a mother’s plea to a traditional songbird for guidance of her wayward son. Songs like “Shalapo,” “Kalindawalo Na Mfumwa,” and his biggest hit, “Imbote,” infuse piano, big band horns, and even early electronic instruments into stunning syncretic pop masterpieces.
This LP is the first time his music is being reissued on vinyl. On high-quality black vinyl with deluxe 12-page booklet with unpublished photos, lyrics, translations, and liner notes written by NTS radio host Jamal Khadar.
credits
releases August 15, 2025
Dedicated to the memory of David T Nkhata
Produced by Cyrus Moussavi and Jamal Khadar
Audio Restoration and Mastering by Jordan McLeod at Osiris Studio Nashville, TN
Liner Notes by Jamal Khadar
Lyric Translations by Ellen Banda-Aaku
Album Artwork by Ella Gold
Liner Note Design by Sam Wenc
Graphic Production and Layout by Dan Fried
Original 78s from the collections of Michael Kieffer, David Nkhata, Mark van Yetter, Rob Allingham, Gordon Ashworth
Licensing by Adam Holofcener
Label Manager Sam Wenc
Label Coordinator Maria Barrios
Mississippi Thanks: The Nkhata Family, Gordon Ashworth, Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, Africa Munyama, Simeon Allen, Rob Allingham, Michael Kieffer, Mark van Yetter
The Nkhata Family would like to thank:
David T Nkhata
The Alick Nkhata Foundation board members: Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Mumba Kapumpa, Robert Liebenthal, David Musunga, Daisy Ng'ambi, Gilbert Temba
Ellen Banda-Aaku
Africa Munyama
The extended family: Banda, Kapotwe, Musunga, Munyama, Nkhata, Nsomi
Friends of the Nkhata family
Joyce Jenje-Makwenda
Jamal Khadar
PREORDER - shipping on or around August 15, 2025
(Note: If you order this record alongside other items, your whole package will ship together on August 15. If you want the rest of your package to ship sooner, please make two separate orders
Country, township jazz, and pop hits from the height of Zambia’s freedom movement.
Vocalist, guitarist, and bandleader Alick Nkhata moved effortlessly between lonesome country slide, big band pop, and air-tight vocal harmonies, all with roots in Bemba and other African traditional songs and rhythms. It’s a dizzying, inclusive, expansive blend from an artist and music archivist who became the voice of his nation’s fight for freedom.
The lyrics and music represent the times - lonesome country laments like “Nafwaya Fwaya” and “Fosta Kayi” drift along the railways to urban centers and copper mines. “Nalikwebele Sonka (I Told You Sonka)”, sung in “deep-Bemba” pairs honey-soaked yodels with a warning about the downward spiral of unemployment in townships, while Mayo Na Bwalya’ (Mother of Bwalya) is a mother’s plea to a traditional songbird for guidance of her wayward son. Songs like “Shalapo,” “Kalindawalo Na Mfumwa,” and his biggest hit, “Imbote,” infuse piano, big band horns, and even early electronic instruments into stunning syncretic pop masterpieces.
This LP is the first time his music is being reissued on vinyl. On high-quality black vinyl with deluxe 12-page booklet with unpublished photos, lyrics, translations, and liner notes written by NTS radio host Jamal Khadar.
credits
releases August 15, 2025
Dedicated to the memory of David T Nkhata
Produced by Cyrus Moussavi and Jamal Khadar
Audio Restoration and Mastering by Jordan McLeod at Osiris Studio Nashville, TN
Liner Notes by Jamal Khadar
Lyric Translations by Ellen Banda-Aaku
Album Artwork by Ella Gold
Liner Note Design by Sam Wenc
Graphic Production and Layout by Dan Fried
Original 78s from the collections of Michael Kieffer, David Nkhata, Mark van Yetter, Rob Allingham, Gordon Ashworth
Licensing by Adam Holofcener
Label Manager Sam Wenc
Label Coordinator Maria Barrios
Mississippi Thanks: The Nkhata Family, Gordon Ashworth, Joyce Jenje-Makwenda, Africa Munyama, Simeon Allen, Rob Allingham, Michael Kieffer, Mark van Yetter
The Nkhata Family would like to thank:
David T Nkhata
The Alick Nkhata Foundation board members: Mukwandi Chibesakunda, Mumba Kapumpa, Robert Liebenthal, David Musunga, Daisy Ng'ambi, Gilbert Temba
Ellen Banda-Aaku
Africa Munyama
The extended family: Banda, Kapotwe, Musunga, Munyama, Nkhata, Nsomi
Friends of the Nkhata family
Joyce Jenje-Makwenda
Jamal Khadar