Rikki Ililonga, featuring Dr. Kenneth Kaunda - We Shall Fight - Full Zambian Album

Zambian music uploaded on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Please like and subscribe. Tap the bell to set Youtube to notify you when I upload new music. Todays' album comes from the Zamrock legend, Rikki Illilonga. As far as I know, this is the second to last publicly released album he produced. The album features a mix of rock, Reggae and pop music with a Zambian flavour. Rikki even does some rapping on it. (!!!) It was released in 2005 but fell into obscurity. For those not in the know, this is the very rare HIV/AIDS activism album from the legendary Zambian Zamrock/Reggae artist, Rikki Ililonga in collaboration with former president of Zambia, Kenneth Kaunda. The album was produced, performed and written mostly by Rikki Ililonga and features vocals on some songs by Kaunda. Following the death of Kaunda's eldest son to AIDS, Kaunda became an AIDS activist, helping to combat the AIDS epidemic in Zambia through education and social advocacy. This album was one of the results and is a call to action amidst the AIDS epidemic in Zambia. I assume that Rikki was involved because he'd seen so many of his fellow musicians die of AIDS in the 1980's and 90s. The album is a mix of songs warning of the dangers of AIDs and advocating safe sex (sometimes talking quite explicitly about using condoms). The full range of Ililonga's musicianship is on display with mix of styles, ranging from rock to reggae to pop. It definitely shows how talented Ililonga is as a performer and songwriter. Among the highlights of the album is Nkondo, a play on Tiende Pamodzi, a rally song Kaunda was famous for singing; Middle of the Storm, which features Ililonga on vocals (doing a bit of rapping, no less) and engaging in a Carlos Santanta-esque turn on the guitar; Hot Hips, which feels kind of like a throw back to some of Illilonga's 70's music; and the jazzy Kuteka that features a saxophone. Two songs feature Kaunda singing with children. This album appears to have been published in Netherlands. Rikki lived in Europe for many years after he moved on from music in Zambia. The album itself doesn't have any credits for any of the performers unfortunately. Given Ililonga's history of being a multi-instrumentalist, I imagine he performed much of the music himself. This album is pretty darn rare. For a while it was considered a lost album until it was rediscovered by a collector. It's not even clear how wide a release the album actually had in Zambia. There was some talk a few years ago of a release to benefit an AIDS charity group, but it doesn't seem like anything has come of it. I consider myself extremely lucky to have this one in my collection. Note: Neither I, nor this channel claim ownership of this music. All rights belong to their respective copyright holders. This channel is not monetized and will never be monetized and serves as an archive to preserve out of print and impossible to find music from Zambia. 0:00 - Nkondo 5:23 - Middle of Storm 9:35 - Don't Cheat 14:36 - We Shall Fight 17:55 - Malita 23:50 - Shantytown Africa 29:55 - Nthenda 32:22 - Hot Hips 36:45 - Children of Africa 39:18 - Kuteka 44:10 - Olemekezeka Credits: Cover Design Barbara Katzin and Rikki Ililonga Recorded @ various different locations around the world Engineered by various engineers Mixed by Dan Andersen and Rikki Ililonga Written, performed and produced by Rikki Ililonga for In the House Records. A Pillar to Post recording. (C) (P) 2005 All rights reserved.