Orchestra Marabenta Star

Even while the South African-controlled RENAMO guerrillas terrorized the population during the late '70s and '80s, the country's most popular band Marabenta Star broadcast from the national radio station.

Marabenta describes an urban party where musicians try out their stuff, and it's also a hopped-up version of the local majika rhythm. In Marabenta Star's musical stew, guitars mix rock and soukous licks, horns add spicy Latin bravado, and a big, percussion-rich rhythm section stirs up grooves dense with local and foreign ingredients. Front and center, velvety, horn-like voices sing tales of everyday life in African languages, something that irked the Portuguese authorities in the band's early days.

The group has disbanded, but their lead singer, Wazimbo, has continued to record on his own. – Banning Eyre, Courtesy Afropop Worldwide: www.afropop.org