W.I.T.C.H.

Zamrock, the Afro-rock genre that swept southern Africa in the 1970s, was born in the Copperbelt region of northern Zambia, and WITCH was at the center of it all. In the beginning, lead singer Emmanuel ‘Jagari’ Chanda and the band looked for a name to match edgy rock sounds coming from Europe and America. First they tried Kingston Market, which sounded too reggae-ish, then they tried Footswitch, but there was a local artist called Dr Footswitch, so they shortened it to Switch, and then finally WITCH. “The posters were handwritten,” Jagari recalled, “so we would draw somebody on a broomstick.” Hot out of the gate, WITCH signed to Teal Records and began touring in a truck with a canopy emblazoned with the words: “Trespassers will be eaten” The graphic artist who wrote those words also gave the band its enduring acronym: We Intend To Cause Havoc. Jagari recalls, “There was no hesitation. Everyone agreed” And the rest is history.