Zed Beats is a music movement that evolved in the late 1980s when young producers started using computers to blend western music with local languages and flavour. Today it’s an umbrella term for popular urban music in Zambia.
Musician and academic Mathew Tembo is a Zed Beats specialist. His PhD is on its history, production and musical labour from 1986 to 2024. We asked him to tell us about the music and how it shapes the country.
What is Zed Beats?
Zed Beats takes its name from the “Z” in “Zambia”. It’s a blend of indigenous musical elements with influences drawn from R&B, reggae, rap, Jamaican dancehall, hip-hop, Afrobeats, amapiano and other urban music genres trending at the time of its production.
The music, sung mostly in Zambian languages Chinyanja and Chibemba, along with some English, is produced on digital audio workstations by self-taught producers in home studios. The use of local languages makes Zed Beats resonate with young people, whose everyday conversations are carried out in these languages.
What forces created the ‘new’ music?
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Zambia’s live music scene was devastated by the HIV/Aids epidemic, which claimed the lives of a generation of top musicians working in genres like Kalindula and Zamrock. The collapse left Zambian radio and TV heavily dominated by foreign American, Congolese and Jamaican music.
Zed Beats stepped into this void, using affordable computer software to resurrect local music and give Zambians back their voice. It was a youthful voice that helped create a new urban identity and became a reset for the nation.
In my study I discuss how Zed Beats also emerged from a dire economy, using technology that made producing music more affordable. This reformed Zambia’s “musical labour” economy. It marked a move away from the traditional, collective effort of live bands touring night venues to individualised digital production.
Deejays became the new vehicle to spread the music, instead of traditional media. Women participated more than ever before in the production of popular music. As Zed Beats became more visible in southern Africa, it also became a source of national pride. Today, Zed Beats artists are internationally known figures who contribute to the public conversation in Zambia.
Who were the pioneers?
To understand the evolution of Zed Beats, a brief history of home studios is necessary.
In 1989, Mushima, the first known home studio, was established at the Lusaka home of Dr Katele Kalumba, a controversial politician, public health specialist and musician. However, the most influential producer of the 1980s and 1990s was sound engineer Michael Linyama. He and his business partner Francis Mwiinga were the first to use a computer to record music in a home studio in Zambia.
By the late 1990s, neighbourhoods across Zambian cities hosted home studios as spaces where musicians could record. In 1997, Daddy Zemus, considered to be the inspirer of Zed Beats, released his debut album Salaula (Pick from a Pile). Salaula refers to secondhand clothes imported from the US and Europe for resale at open markets in Zambia. With the harsh economic situation, this was a common practice in urban marketplaces.
The success of the song inspired other pop music acts to experiment with lyrics in local languages. Before that, pop musicians inspired by American music mostly sang in English.
In home studios, producers were able to multi-track and manipulate sounds using music software. This became a model for producing urban popular music. In 2001, Jordan Katembula’s debut album JK epitomised the new sound of Zed Beats. After the release of JK, the artist could not drive in the streets of Lusaka and other bigger cities without being mobbed by fans.
His song Balekuzembeleka (They Are Lying to You), sung in Chibemba, was about a love relationship. It resonated with young people and would establish a major theme in Zed Beats lyrics.
Who are today’s stars?
Zambia’s music economy continues to grow. Today, many musicians are able to make a decent career in music. Yo Maps, Slap Dee, Macky 2 and his brother Chef 187 are some of the Zed Beats musicians who’ve dominated the scene in the last decade or so.
Some of the biggest hits of the past few years have been Yo Maps’ Somone (Come and See), Slap Dee’s Asante (Thank You), Macky 2’s Winsula (Do Not Look Down Upon Me) and Chef 187’s Shadow Boxing. Their themes vary.
Somone is about a man who was refused by a woman for having too little money. In the song he asks her to “come and see” how successful he’s become. A reminder that people can change their circumstances.
In Asante, Slap Dee thanks God for guiding him through life and making him succeed. Winsula is a lament from a woman who has been treated unfairly by her man because she does not look as beautiful as she did when they first met. In Shadow Boxing, Chef 187 claims there is no rapper better than him out there. He is simply boxing himself (his shadow). The stories of rejection, resilience, love and faith make Zed Beats songs relatable.
What role do these artists play during elections?
Although Zed Beats musicians are not known for political lyrics, they are routinely used to mobilise voters, particularly during elections.
The tightly contested 2011 elections, for example, saw the opposition Patriotic Front win for the first time. Music played a big role in advancing their campaign, especially the catchy song Donchi Kubeba (Don’t Tell Them). In it, Dandy Crazy encourages people to accept favours from the ruling party but secretly vote for the opposition.
In 2016, JK’s Dununa Rivesi (Kick it Back) featured prominently during elections, played and performed at rallies.
For the 2026 elections, more than half of the most notable Zed Beats artists have been contracted to record theme songs or perform at rallies for the ruling party and the opposition.
Zed Beats is fluid. It plays various roles in Zambian society and can be heard wherever people gather in numbers. Its ability to draw from other musical influences and morph into different forms while maintaining its identity is the reason the music endures and is starting to go global.
Mathew Tembo received grants from the University of Pittsburgh during his dissertation research for his dissertation.
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