Dark Sunrise

I am sonically and materially interested in depicting the consequences of dislocating music from its original context. I am looking to explore the ephemerality of sound that is a direct product of its makers and environment, and the ways in which art can be a vessel for embodied histories of individuals and agents who remain unsung. This installation, Dark Sunrise, is an ongoing series, and a manifestation of my research on the Zamrock genre. Zamrock is defined as a musical genre emerging out of a newly independent Zambia in 1964 to cultivate a national identity through cultural practices. Journalists deem it notable for its sonic hybridity, blending genres of psychedelic funk from the Black-American musical tradition with British rock to create an original sound. Lasting less than two decades, it remains fixed in time, as a historical feat of imitation amidst a tumultuous time of newfound freedom.

It exists as a rare yet necessary archive depicting the sentiments of the nation’s labor class in the first two decades of independence, and is a necessary vessel of the nations post-colonial memory. As it is experiencing a resurgence in the UK, the US, and Zambia, its new wave is an echo of its original movement. It exists as its own entity, with fiscal and material consequences, mostly concerning questions of intellectual property and memory preservation. This installation consists of a 17-minute sonic essay and six photographic prints. The music within the sonic essay was produced by Eli Arougheti, a sonic performance of material loss, using fragments of the Zamrock song, “Dark Sunrise,” by Rikki Ililonga.