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Review: Analog Africa's latest gem is a wonderful celebration of Zimbabwe's musical roots that traces back to the label's beginnings over 20 years ago. This carefully curated collection showcases the explosion of creativity from the 1970s and 80s before genre boundaries were clearly defined. Artists boldly fused rock, rumba, soul and traditional rhythms into an experimental sound that remains fresh today. Accompanied by an in-depth booklet, the compilation features rare and unreleased tracks from legends like Thomas Mapfumo and Oliver Mtukudzi and all of them make for a dynamic and essential snapshot of a transformative era in Zimbabwean music history.

Review: Analog Africa doesn't do anything other than special releases really, but this one tracing the label's origins back to Zimbabwe over 20 years ago is a real standout. A carefully curated collection of 25 tracks with a fine booklet proving plenty of extra context, it captures the birth of the country's modern music scene and brims with the creative sound explosion of the 70s and 80s. Before genres were fully defined, artists blended rock, rumba, soul and traditional rhythms in bold, experimental ways that still stand up and get diggers and dancers excited in 2025. Included are never-before-released tracks from Thomas Mapfumo, Oliver Mtukudzi and more and they all add up to rich and dynamic snapshot of Zimbabwe's peerless musical evolution during what was a transformative era.