By Khalifa Hemed
Published January 25, 2019
One of Africa’s acclaimed musicians has died.
Oliver Mtukudzi, the iconic guitarist and leader of The Black Spirits Band who was 66 died in the Zimbabwean capital, Harare, on January 23, 2019, plunging his legion of fans around the world in mourning.
Though Mtukudzi ventured in music in 1975 at the age of 23 with the release of the single, ‘Stop After Orange’, it was not till two years later, in 1977, that he would go professional upon teaming up with Thomas Mapfumo, another Zimbabwean music legend, in the famous Wagon Wheels Band.
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Mtukudzi’s distinctive voice, catchy rhythms, passionate and nuanced lyrical story-telling and strong social messages against stigma, discrimination, and child abuse enabled his music to go beyond Zimbabwean borders and inspired leaders to take action to correct the highlighted anomalies. This saw Mtukudzi appointed UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for Southern and Eastern Africa in 2011.
Mtukudzi founded Pakare Paye Arts Centre in Norton through which he helped in guiding and mentoring a new generation of artists.
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The music of Mtukudzi, with its eclectic mix of influences, is known as ‘Tuku Music’. But Mtukudzi told ArtMatters.Info of Nairobi in 2013 that he had not set out to create any music style.
“I was the last person to know that my music is called Tuku Music. I knew my music was simply African music but it was actually my fans who labelled it as such. And in my research with the fans they said my music was uniquely influenced by the mbira, the jiti, the tsavatsava, katekwe, the dinhe it might be a ballad but you can feel those elements. So they labelled it uniquely Tuku Music,” he said in an interview with Tawanda Mudzonga.
The musician who would become one of Zimbabwean music’s spiritual fathers and legends was the eldest in a family of seven siblings born into a musical family of a father and mother who were notable singers.
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An ArtMatters.Info article.
