12. The Green Arrows4-Track Recording Session (Chipo Chiroorwa / Waka Waka Selection)
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m a big fan of all kinds of African music, and I guess we have to credit a lot of labels that in the past, say, ten or fifteen years, have done so much work reissuing music that wasn’t available before. Listen to The Green Arrows reissues, and the level of musicianship there is just insane. These are recordings from Zimbabwe, which were super-famous out there. The songs are also really, really short. There’s not a single song above three minutes. They’re so tight in terms of rhythm and the guitar playing, but also so contagious.
Africa is an endless world in terms of inspiration for me, in terms of the level of musicianship, and the idea of repetition mixing with reinvention. It’s a very cyclical approach – the idea that you can make cyclical music that’s very fluctuating, all the time. This really speaks to me. I also like very much the idea that this was music mostly being produced with limited means. I’m guessing sometimes it’s just like a pair of microphones, and it just sounds amazing. I am very much of the school of doing stuff with limited means! You don’t need a ton of fancy equipment, or a wall of synthesisers to make a good album. That also resonates with the idea of me making things myself. I hope it always will.
