Thomas Mapfumo was born in Rhodesia in 1945 and his earliest musical influence was American rock. When his nation became Zimbabwe, Mapfumo drew more extensively on traditional African sounds and instruments, his music echoing the continent’s post-colonial trajectory. Eyre—a guitarist who has performed with the legendary musician—is the producer and senior editor of public radio’s Afropop Worldwide and has written three books on Africa and music, including In Griot Time; his portrait of Mapfumo is as much the story of twentieth-century African music and history as it is the biography of one influential cultural figure.
