A Belated Post About ZAP Records: RIP ZAP 2015-2020

This post has been a long time coming and I feel bad about delaying it this long.

Some of you may or many not remember when I debuted Dystopian Futures’s latest music video for “Space Junk”, but I mentioned that ZAP Records closed down. This bummed me out since the founder Dave Emmerson was one of the few people left in the DIY music scene that I still respect as well as him being a great friend. I thought it was amazing with how he managed to get bands and singers from multiple countries involved with his record label. I was exposed to great music that no one else was making and I managed to get involved with the label even before “Ospreyshire” (the spoken word project AND the blogger you see today) was a thing. Not sure if I mentioned this, but I was able to help out with press releases, bios, and I even made music videos for some of the bands. Dave himself has a record in my filmography portfolio since I’ve directed three music videos for him between two of his bands. The first music video I ever made in my life was for his old band The Old-Timers (no pun intended) and it was a major international collaboration since Dave at the time was living in South Africa while I was still here in America, yet we were able to make it work. That really gave me confidence and he encouraged me to do some recording of my own.

While Ospreyshire (the spoken word project) was all me with my poems, acousmatics, and instrumentation, I will say that if there was no ZAP Records, there might not have been an Ospreyshire let alone the current blogs I run. It’s strange how life works, but I do have to credit Dave for being a good friend to be encouraging to me even if he was thousands of miles away in South Africa or when he was back in his home country of Scotland. Who ever thought that some random guy like me and someone like him would meet at a music festival in Central Illinois and were able to collaborate with multiple projects for years now.

It is sad to see ZAP Records go. I’m thankful to have been a contributor in multiple ways to the label. I was so disillusioned with the music scene at large, so this was a last bastion of sorts.

RIP, ZAP Records.

In good news, Dave came up with Visions Press where he’s releasing new music and even zines. Definitely check it out!

https://visionspress.bandcamp.com/

Saxophone player Manu Dibango dies from coronavirus — Dear Kitty. Some blog

 

RIP, Manu Dibango.

The world may only know of your song because Michael Jackson and Rihanna (by proxy) ripped it off, but I know who you are. You were one of the people I gave tribute to in my song “Cameroonian Originality March”. You didn’t deserve this. Your family has my sincerest condolences.

 

 

This 2015 music video says about itself: Soul Makossa – Manu Dibango (Original) Soul Makossa meaning: “I will dance.” Translated from Dutch NOS radio today: Saxophonist and bandleader Manu Dibango has died from the effects of the coronavirus. The 86-year-old musician from Cameroon was best known for the worldwide hit Soul Makossa from 1972. The […]

via Saxophone player Manu Dibango dies from coronavirus — Dear Kitty. Some blog