The Comedy of Errors: Shalawambe - Kambowa (8 May 1992)

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“In that golden year, 1988, I saw (Shalawambe) playing in a community centre in the middle of Leicester and they set the place alight, I mean lit it up, they really did.”

Peel had spent the week leading up to this programme in a state of great anticipation because a friend was sending him a group of records from Zambia.  However, they had not arrived by the time of broadcast so he had to fall back on a track from the brilliantly named Zambiance compilation album of 1989.  Furthermore, he was able to provide some background information about the song he played.  A kambowa is a small bird found in the north-west province of Zambia.  The song, Kambowa, is about the funeral procession for a deceased mother which passes by a tree in which a kambowa is perched. The bird detects the sadness of the funeral party and bows its head in respect, a guesture much appreciated by the bereaved son of the mother, who sings about how the bird shares his grief.  Clearly Kay Burley drew inspiration from this song after the Paris terrorist attacks in 2015.

Musically Kambowa is rather more skeletal than most of the African music tracks that I like to include here.  There are no catchy arpeggios to play out the last couple of minutes.  Having some context to the lyrics helps because it’s a track that relies on the singers to get it across more than the music.  My notes say the persistence of the chorus won me over.  It certainly does a good job of evoking an African funeral with the chorus suggesting the ecstatic sense of comfort that the party takes from the bird’s apparent attentions.

Video courtesy of ERML 2000 International.