Mapfumo, one of the 20th century's greatest musicians, has lately been based in Eugene, where he recorded Rise Up with an 11-member band of Zimbabwean vets and local musicians on guitar, mbira (thumb-plucked metal harp), call and response vocals (featuring exquisite female singers), keyboards, bass, drums, flute and horns. Whether because of his long separation from Zimbabwe — his band has been threatened and harassed by dictator Robert Mugabe's increasingly repressive and corrupt government — upheaval in his record label, management and marriage, or his homeland's descent into poverty and dictatorship, Rise Up has a more somber feel than Mapfumo's other recent recordings.

But it continues the 60-year-old singer/songwriter's restless, bubbling fusion of various African musical forms with American soul and R&B, reggae, and more. Some lyrics (sung in Shona) call on listeners to rise up and take a stand against injustice; others decry immorality and corruption and other scourges of his homeland. Just as the apartheid government did a quarter century ago during the black majority's liberation struggle, the Mugabe regime has banned Mapfumo's music from the country's radio stations. But his powerful message and danceable music are now crossing the planet via cyberspace — it's the first world music album released exclusively in digital format. Download it at thomasmapfumo.calabashmusic.com/ — Brett Campbell