kerblammo!

Been a while since I posted anything here - lots of new work's been going up on my website but I'm trying to get back into the swing of posting other stuff up here - sketchbook things, personal work and experiments, drawings, work in progress and so on.  So here's a portrait of the legendary Zimbabwean musician Thomas Mapfumo.  It's a preliminary drawing for a self-initiated project about Zimbabwean music that I'm starting at the moment; I've loved Zimbabwean music for a very long time (mainly Jit and Sungura styles) but I'm into it more than ever right now - discovered some old gems recently, it's been going down very well in my DJ sets and the country as a whole is not in a good state these days and as such it's perceived in a particularly negative light (a Google Images search of the name for some research is a depressing case in point).  So I'm going to redress that in whatever small way I can, and celebrate an aspect of the country's culture that has brought me immense joy.  Plus it's a good excuse to draw another map (finalising a nice map commission as we speak...).  And some guitars.  Hurrah.

Aside from Mr.Mapfumo I would also recommend listening to the amazing Oliver Mtukudzi (who turns sixty this month), Four Brothers, Nyami Nyami Sounds, James Chimombe and John Chibadura.