Songs for Justice: Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited

Songs for Justice: Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited
Free with suggested contribution $5-20, outside on the Plaza
Registration provides a chair on the Plaza first-come, first-served. If preferred, bring your own chair or blanket to sit on the lawn.

The Rothko Chapel presented the Songs for Justice series, featuring concerts and conversations exploring the power of music in furthering social justice movements and addressing today’s inequities and injustices. Thomas Mapfumo & the Blacks Unlimited performed deep mbira anthems, rollicking township dance grooves, and refracted glimmers of reggae, R&B, and African jazz on the Plaza to conclude this program series.

About the presenter
Affectionately known to the world as the “Lion of Zimbabwe,” Thomas Mapfumo has been a witness and participant of the history in his native country, Zimbabwe. From the bloody years of the country’s liberation war in the 1970’s, right through the present economic and political crises, Mapfumo has used his revolutionary, spiritually charged music to decry injustice and highlight the historical and cultural issues that underlie the news headlines. Mapfumo is a musical visionary, fearless social critic, and one of the greatest African bandleaders of the past century. Learn more about Thomas Mapfumo here.

Musicians included: Thomas Mapfumo, lead singer; Gilbert Zvamaida, lead guitar; Chris Muchabaiwa, bass; Eddie Delissio, drums; Charles Jangano, keyboard; Chaka Mhember, mbira

Learn more about past programs in the Songs for Justice series.