THE SENTRIES
On the photo below is Mr Mukuka a former member of the band.
Zambian music arena could not have been so explosive without including the Sentries.
This was an Army sponsored band that popped up in the middle
of a wild and aggressive Zamrock pack which included pioneers like Tinkles,
Mosi O Tunya, Amanaz, Cross Bones, Great Witch and Born Free, among them.
The Chindwin Barracks outfit became an instant hit
especially that its music was coming from a background of heavy rock of the
Deep Purple, Grand Funk, Black Sabbath, Santana and Jimi Hendrix.
However, the Sentries music had a rich mix that had always
been a hallmark of the band throughout its history.
But just like any other band that thrived and disappeared at
the close of the 70s and early 90s, so were the Sentries and although the local
music industry had also collapsed at the same time, the group’s demise was
gradual while holding on to the weakening survival thread.
One can recall that some of the band’s danceable hits, not
forgetting, Turn Around, I feel Alright, Survival and Sentries Connection, can
easily cause the current generation react wildly.
Towards the 1980s, the band recorded a couple of singles but
among the most popular were Leta Lubono and Chiindi Chamana.
But the mid 1980s saw some of the members retired by the
Army command and this somewhat slowed down the band’s prospects.
There as a fusion of new blood that saw Mukuka heading the
group on lead guitar while Captain Austin Chewe, now a prominent business
executive and politician becoming the band manager.
But the band did not go far especially after the departure
of Captain Chewe and neither did it enter the recording studios.