Imagine yourself in northern Zambia, in the copper mining town of Kitwe, a guest in the home of Zamrock musician Victor Kunda Kasoma. The living room is dark and the silhouette of the Oscillations guitarist is etched against drawn curtains. Fingers fumble, cable jacks click and the air fills with static hum. Victor meanders through a handful of new and original compositions, presenting them vulnerable and naked on his electric guitar interspersed with casual commentary and witty asides. Some ideas are fully fledged while others are shapeshifting sketches, some guitar sounds are clean while others are bathed in mind-boggling effects, but the tone and technique is unmistakable. It's around 40 years since Victor recorded I Can See It Come yet his guitar fingerprint is easily detected.
Away Too Long (2022) is a snapshot of a veteran guitarist who overcame polio as a young man to pursue a career in music, a glimpse into the musical heart and soul of a now older and wiser Victor Kunda Kasoma in his 60s. The works that make up this EP are solo guitar demos literally recorded in a garage adjacent to Victor's home in Kitwe in 2016. As with all demos, the intention was to seek collaboration and support to flesh out the skeletal ideas in a studio environment. While this remains a hope, we share these humble offerings as ripples in the still ocean of dreams.
Victor is both delighted and amused that his 1978 album I Can See It Come has developed cult status among global psych diggers. While the idea of recording another album is a thrilling prospect, he's also just getting on with living life in the present. Like so many musicians, Victor's world was turned upside down during the pandemic. He emerged in 2022 with a new calling, taking on a volunteer position at a community school in a remote village in Mpongwe in the Copperbelt Province. Just as Victor was guided into music by a beloved teacher as a young boy, he's now helping a new generation of Zambian guitarists find their little wings.
Composer • Guitar • Vocals – Victor Kunda Kasoma
Recorded in Kitwe, Zambia in 2016
Produced and Recorded by Calum MacNaughton
Mixing and Mastering by Richard Vossgatter
