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I first listened to the Bhundu Boys on BBC radio 1 where John Peel, a
veteran DJ used to play them almost every night. This was in the mid-80s,
when very few people in Europe had any knowledge of African music.
I listened to them more after I bought some of their albums on my
first trip to their native Zimbabwe and on my second trip, I was
fortunate enough to meet the band face to face. We happened to be
on the same Air Zambia (never again!) flight from Rome to Harare via
Lusaka/Zambia, which ended up getting us stranded in Lusaka together.
They were just heading home after having produced the music video
for "True Jit".
Many years later I was sad to hear that one of the members of the band had died from AIDS and another had comitted suicide (which is very rare in African societies). They were nice people but from what I heard their rise to fame drew a lot of jealousy from other bands that were more well known at home but less successful abroad.
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