WITCH + SHOLTO – THE HOPE & RUIN, BRIGHTON 9.8.24
Once in a blue moon, you’ll come across a band or a musical artist who have a substantially creative tenure full of powerful recordings, live performances and steady acclaim before eventually disbanding or retiring for several reasons, only to then make a comeback over a quarter of a century or more later and then come out with their best material to date. I think the strongest example of such a collective is WITCH. Standing for “We Intend to Cause Havoc”, WITCH are regarded as one of the most seminal acts to come out of the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, infusing a distinctive array of psychedelia, garage rock, blues and funk into their Zamrock image that only begins to describe the band’s identity.
Across the 1970s, WITCH, led by vocalist Emanyeo “Jagari” Chanda, recorded several albums that received warmth in their home country during a time where the golden era of Zambia’s post-independent state quickly broke down into economic ruin and a rise in government authoritarianism, leading to Jagari leaving the band four years into their tenure to become a teacher. As the remainder of the collective explored other sounds, it wasn’t long before the future of WITCH became a non-existence, with the remaining members disbanding in 1984.
However, much like several bands and artists that faded into obscurity, WITCH eventually found their status garnering a cult following and retrospective acclaim the likes of Vashti Bunyan and Comus had previously encountered. Following an invite back to the US and several reissues of previous records, WITCH have amplified their world back into full form and with their most recent release, the 2023 album ‘Zango’, reaching bigger heights than ever before, we find the troupe across a two-show residency (a review of the first of which will take place below) at Brighton’s Hope & Ruin, courtesy of Acid Box Promotions!
Opening for WITCH at Friday night’s show is multi-instrumentalist Oscar Robertson, also known as SHOLTO. Based in London, Oscar’s music as SHOLTO encompasses many musical dialects from jazz, classical, and 60s/70s soundtracks with a self-confessed appreciation for the works of David Axelrod. Needless to say I was excited for SHOLTO’s set due to the presence of a massive harp taking centre stage, as well as the vast array of percussion placed around Oscar’s drum kit. With no introduction to the crowd, the music of SHOLTO gets under way with some opening washings of wind chimes, harp glissandos and cymbal flourishes. This opening track, ‘Honey And Wine’, is a wonderful tone setter for the set, with a strong 60s Disney soundtrack bleeding through the dense instrumental arrangement of flute, violins, keys, harp, bass and drums. Oscar leads the band from behind the kit throughout the set, locking everyone together with his tight drum performances. The next track, ‘Vampire’ continues to create that cinematic and orchestral feel that Oscar strives for within his music, but incorporates a slightly more macabre tone in its melody writing.
Already by the third song, ‘Twin Flames’, Oscar has demonstrated a strong synergy with his group of musicians, all of whom are in their element, especially harpist Rachel Kitchlew who treats us to a gorgeous solo opening leg of harp, leading to warm applause and cheers from the crowd. This piece beautifully creates, for me, an image of trekking down a narrow river adorned with trees just from the intertwining of Arthur Sajas’ flute and Clementine Brown’s violin melodies. Where more or less every track in the set opens with this blissful array of harps and windchimes, ‘Moki’ has a more chaotic and volumetric introduction that gives way to brushed drum rhythms and long-held notes. A more sporadically arranged track, the middle section of the piece is more meditative before it reaches this amazing melodic motif that closes the song out.
‘The Pearl That Glitters’ features an ominously triumphant melody as an introduction, with droning violins and synth strings painting the soundscape beautifully, as well as the presence of some exciting chord changes switching the compositions up in an expert manner! SHOLTO brings their set to a close with the track ‘Pony’, a piece that features a more funk-based momentum, with Arthur swapping his flute for shakers, before he, keyboardist Tom McBriden and Oscar treat us to staggering solos. Maybe the sudden switch to something more uptempo and energetic was a hint of what was to come from the Zambian legends themselves in half an hour’s time…?
SHOLTO:
Oscar Robinson – drums
Rachel Kitchlew – harp
Tom McBriden – keyboards
Arthur Sajas – flute
Syd Kemp – bass
Clementine Brown – violin
SHOLTO setlist:
‘Honey And Wine’
‘Vampire’
‘Twin Flames’
‘Moki’
‘The Pearl That Glitters’
‘Pony’
As the room began to fill up even more, leaving me very little room for manoeuvre, a small assemblage of musicians began to take their place on the stage, giving no introduction before heading into a jam to open the set with the track ‘Thou Shalt Not Cry’. The backdrop of guitarists Stefan Lilov and Daniël Tieman, alongside percussionist Charlie Chimi, drummer Nico Mauskoviç and bassist Jacco Gardner welcomed us to the WITCH world before dancers and backing vocalists Theresa Ng’ambi and Hanna Tembo joined the stage to the sound of raucous applause. Finally, the two cornerstones of WITCH, keyboardist Patrick Mwondela and frontman Jagari make their way, with the latter engaging in some call and response passages with the group and improvising on Nico’s kit alongside him towards the end. Already, this track created this warm buzz among the crowd that would only get stronger from here! One of my favourite tracks of the night, ‘Living In The Past’, features a slightly twee-tinged guitar riff, with some great stop-start passages to tease the audience and a solo from Stefan that marks the first of some incredible performances from himself.
‘Waile’ from the ‘Zango’ record maintains a faster groove with more hypnotic momentum and pulse, with more call and response between Jagari’s verses and the band’s calls of “Waile!”. The gorgeous grouped vocals of the nine-piece is a joy to hear in a room like The Hope & Ruin where live sound pays off beautifully! Jagari fittingly introduces the band on the track ‘Introduction’, a song built off very simple motifs that remind me of something from a ‘Speaking In Tongues’-era Talking Heads track, before WITCH dancers Hanna and Theresa take prominent vocal duties on the following two cuts ‘Unimvwesha Shuga’ and ‘Malango’, both of which are very different in dynamic range. The first of which employs some heavy synth vibratos from Patrick and an electrifying closing section while the second sits within a slower and more sultry shuffle rhythm groove.
One of the more jam-based songs of the set, ‘Toloka’ sees Jagari handing out a cowbell to various audience members to join in on, leading to one dude being invited on-stage for the remainder of the song! The more chilled and laid back opening groove of ‘Evil Woman’ was unfortunately plagued with audience chatter, which always infuriates me, however, it was later extinguished by a sudden energy mutation within the band and a tempo change that leads to a double time finish with Jagari’s passionate vocals flooding the room.
That fiery ardour that the WITCH troupe that been providing all night begins to simmer down as just Jagari and Patrick handle the track ‘Strange Dream’, with Jagari standing behind an acoustic guitar before the crowd, engaging in a performance that seems more akin to folk music than their iconic Zamrock style. The track is a beautiful moment in the set, with the lyric “suddenly, the devil kissed my face” encapsulating the audience into Jagari’s world, while Stefan plays around with the acoustic guitar effects from the back of the stage. Jagari begins to remark on the social turmoil that the world has turned towards, recalling how visiting an airport is surprisingly peaceful: everyone of all race, gender and creed is there, simply getting to where they want to get to. He smiles and says to “emulate that, and live in peace”.
The song ‘Chifundo’ plays around with a great back and forth rapport between Stefan and Daniël on their respective acoustic and electric guitars, with several groove changes abound from start to finish. Closing out the last leg of the main set, ‘By The Time You Realise’ is a song referred to by Jagari as “not taking your partners for granted”, complemented by vocals that switch between singing and spoken word and a great harmony of sound coming from the instrumentalists. Finally, the track ‘Lazy Bones’ ties up the main set expertly with a more anthemic musical progression, not quite as riff heavy as the rest of the performances.
The multi-cultural nonet depart the stage to the repeating cries of “one more song”, prompting a swift return, albeit one band member hopping back into groove at a time for the track ‘Like A Chicken’. This track and the subsequent closer for the night, a rendition of ‘Do The Funky Chicken’ shows the band at their true synergetic prime, jamming together with a love for the sound and a love for the performance. Even the members of SHOLTO join to aid on extra instrumental frenzies, as well as a small number of audience members for just that further dance-led fun! And with that, WITCH ends Friday night at The Hope and Ruin on a high, proving their staying power after so many years on hiatus. Jagari and Patrick have clearly demonstrated their yearning and their love for their project, pushing it to further heights than they did in their original run and garnering a crowdful of fans, most of whom I would handsomely bet weren’t even born by their break-up. They intended to cause havoc, and that is precisely what they did.
WITCH:
Emanyeo “Jagari” Chanda – lead vocals
Patrick Mwondela – keyboards, backing vocals
Jacco Gardner – bass, backing vocals
Stefan Lilov – guitar
Daniël Tieman – guitar
Charlie Chimi – percussion, drums
Nico Mauskoviç – drums, backing vocals
Theresa Ng’ambi – backing vocals, dancer
Hanna Tembo – backing vocals, dancer
WITCH setlist:
‘Thou Shalt Not Cry’
‘Living In The Past’
‘Waile’
‘Introduction’
‘Unimvwesha Shuga’
‘Malango’
‘Toloka’
‘Evil Woman’
‘Strange Dream’
‘Chifundo’
‘By The Time You Realise’
‘Lazy Bones’
(encore)
‘Like A Chicken’
‘Do The Funky Chicken’
