Thomas Mapfumo was born in 1945 in Marondera, Zimbabwe. He sang with various bands including The Zutu Brothers, Hallelujah Chicken Run Band and the Acid Band before forming The Blacks Unlimited when he and Jonah Sithole merged their bands in 1977. The band developed a style called chimurenga music, meaning "(revolutionary) struggle" - a highly politicised electrification of traditional Shona mbira music, with lyrics railing against the colonial government in Rhodesia and, later, against Mugabe.