W.I.T.C.H. with Mauskovic Dance Band at Deep Ellum Art Co.

After having their remarkable second act interrupted by the pandemic, Zamrock heroes Witch are back on tour. Two original members on life as a musician in Zambia, mining for amethyst, and hope for the future. ON THE OUTSKIRTS of downtown Los Angeles, inside a hulking, graffiti-bedecked industrial building, a distinct lilting reverberates through sterile halls. Behind one of the many nondescript doors is Witch. An acronym for “We Intend to Cause Havoc,” the 1970s psychedelic rock band from Zambia, which helped establish the genre known as Zamrock, is rehearsing for its first U.S. tour since the pandemic began. More than that, Witch are looking to recommence a remarkable story of resilience and resurrection. In the cramped rehearsal space, the band members, jet-lagged and hungry, play with effervescence while donning their iconic floppy hats. Worn by the original members in the Seventies, these psychedelic witch hats are made of vibrant Zambian chitenge cloth, and were not only worn for style, but also as a way to quell their stage fright — the long, skirtlike brims forcing them to focus on the music instead of the crowd. After establishing a following in Zambia as well as in Tanzania, Malawi, Zimbabwe, and Botswana in the 1970s, the band slowly dissolved in the Eighties and eventually stopped playing altogether. Chiseling for amethysts in a dirt pit in Zambia, co-founder Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda, now 70, thought his days of performing were over. Then in 2012, Now Again Records reissued Witch’s entire discography, sharing their long-forgotten albums with a younger generation. The final catalyst of Witch’s comeback began in 2014, when Italian filmmaker Gio Arlotta started working on a documentary about the band called We Intend to Cause Havoc, which was released in 2019.

– rollingstone.com