Zambian singer, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader and broadcaster
1922 - 1978

Alick Nkhata was a pioneer of Zambian popular music whose career spanned the pre- and post-Independence years of Zambia. He served in the British Colonial forces during world War 2, fighting in Burma. After the war, he returned to Zambia and worked as a field recording engineer for ethnomusicologist Hugh Tracey. Following his work with Hugh Tracy in the 1940's, Nkhata formed a quartet, performing scored versions of rural folk tunes. His band eventually became the Lusaka Radio Band (later The Big Gold Six), which was frequently played on central African radio in the 1950's and on Zambian radio post independence after 1964.

Nkhata went on to work with the Central African Broadcasting Service, where he oversaw the recording of traditional music and rose (post Zambian independence) to the position of deputy director of broadcasting and director of Zambian cultural services at the Zambian Broadcasting Service (ZBS). He continued to work for ZBS until 1974 when he retired to his homestead near Mkushi in Central Province. In 1978 he was killed by Southern Rhodesian forces during a cross-border raid against a nearby Zimbabwean freedom fighter camp.

Nkhata is credited with helping to preserve Zambian folk music through his work with Hugh Tracey and ZBS. He is considered one of the fathers of modern Zambian music and is said to have influenced other notable Zambian folk artists such as Emmanuel Mulemena.