{"id":2980,"date":"2019-02-02T16:04:05","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T16:04:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/zimbabwe\/?p=2980"},"modified":"2019-02-02T16:04:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T16:04:05","slug":"mutserendende-two-awesome-decades-of-tuku-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mutserendende-two-awesome-decades-of-tuku-music","title":{"rendered":"Mutserendende: Two awesome decades of Tuku music"},"content":{"rendered":"

IN this article, I look at the last two decades of Dr. Oliver Mtukudzi\u2019s (Tuku) music, from the 1998 scorcher\u00a0Tuku Music<\/em>\u00a0to his final offering,\u00a0Hany\u2019ga\/Concern<\/em>. This period is crucially important to Tuku\u2019s legacy as it firmly established him as one of, if not\u00a0the, greatest Zimbabwean musicians of all time.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that 1998 was not the year that Tuku became a hit maker. He had already won the prominent M-Net award for best movie soundtrack, staged the first live concert album recording and recorded numerous hit songs. It was only a watershed year because that is when he started to be thought of as the one of the very best.<\/p>\n

Leonard Dembo, Leonard Zhakata and Simon Chimbetu had dominated the music scene in the 90\u2019s, whilst Thomas Mapfumo maintained a towering presence with his evergreen\u00a0Chimurenga\u00a0<\/em>music. With the release of\u00a0Tuku Music<\/em>,\u00a0Tuku\u00a0claimed his spot at the very top and would lay legitimate claim to the mantle of\u00a0greatest of all time<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Tuku\u00a0is one of the last in a group of musicians belonging to the second wave of recorded music in Zimbabwe. The first wave consisted of acapella, jazz and other predominantly cosmopolitan genres steeped in western style traditions.<\/p>\n

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The second wave was the hugely popular reversion to indigenous rhythms and spawned\u00a0luminaries including Thomas Mapfumo, the Bhundu Boys, Zexie Manatsa, and James Chimombe.\u00a0Hailing from this era,\u00a0Tuku\u00a0established himself on the basis of his husky voice and adaptation of traditional rhythms onto acoustic guitar.<\/p>\n

The partnership with Steve Dyer in 1998 resulted in his first all hit album in the modern era. The\u00a0Tuku Music<\/em>\u00a0album combined\u00a0Tuku\u2019s\u00a0lyrical perspicacity with Philani Dube and Louis Mhlanga\u2019s exceptional mbira guitar. The almost haunting backing vocals of Mwendi Chibindi and Mary Bell would serve to buttress a truly groundbreaking record.<\/p>\n

From\u00a0Dzoka Uyamwe<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Ndima Ndapedza<\/em>\u00a0to\u00a0Todiii,<\/em>\u00a0the album sounds like a veritable collection of greatest hits.\u00a0Tuku\u00a0would scale the same dizzy heights with what proved to be yet another all-hit offering:\u00a0Paivepo<\/em>. It included such classics as\u00a0Pindurai Mambo, Perekedza Mwana, Mutserendende<\/em>and\u00a0Chiri Nani<\/em>, the last two which would become permanent features of his live performance repertoire.<\/p>\n

The 2000 production\u00a0Bvuma\/Tolerance<\/em>\u00a0produced runaway hits\u00a0Wasakara, Rurimi, Raki<\/em>\u00a0and the deeply traditional\u00a0Wenge Mambo<\/em>. By this point,\u00a0Tuku\u00a0had proven himself to have the Midas touch, with each album equal to or better than the last.<\/p>\n

Vhunze Moto<\/em>\u00a0would be the last collaboration with Steve Dyer. It scaled lofty heights through songs such as\u00a0Wongororo, Gondo\u00a0<\/em>andNdakuvara<\/em>\u00a0which earned him a Kora All Africa Award for Best Arrangement. Tuku\u2019s music was growing in stature at home and in the region.<\/p>\n

With four stellar albums on the trot,\u00a0Tuku\u00a0made the radical switch to a more acoustic feel on the 2003 album on\u00a0Tsivo\/Revenge<\/em>. It produced the hit songs\u00a0Totutuma<\/em>,\u00a0Wagona Fani<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hariputirwe<\/em>, but was markedly different from his all-hit albums. It seemed the decision to part ways with Steve Dyer had a direct effect on album production.<\/p>\n

But these doubts would be laid to rest on his next album,\u00a0Nhava<\/em>. With the acoustic experiment shelved,\u00a0Nhava<\/em>\u00a0was Tuku back to his very best: an all-hit album filled with booming bass lines and hypnotizing melodies;\u00a0Handiro Dambudziko, Hazvireve, Menzva Kudzimba, Ninipa\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Tozeza Baba<\/em>were among the rich lexicon of hit songs.<\/p>\n

This marked Tuku\u2019s high point as a performing artist. He was solid gold in Harare, where shows were always over-subscribed and he rarely played more than once in a month, touring regionally and internationally in the intervening periods. Such was his popularity that when he was overlooked in favour of Tongai Moyo for the ZIMA Best Male Artist Award in 2005, the crowd openly chanted his name in rebuke.<\/p>\n

Tuku would follow the\u00a0Nhava<\/em>\u00a0album with\u00a0Tsimba Itsoka<\/em>, from which\u00a0Hapana kuti Mbijana, Njuga, Ungade We\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Masimba Mashoma<\/em>\u00a0were well received. It also included the soulful ballad\u00a0Vachakunonokera<\/em>.\u00a0However, this album would not reach the lofty heights of\u00a0Nhava<\/em>, mostly due to yet another radical change.<\/p>\n

In 2007, Tuku fired half of his entire band. Not only were the band members dismissed, but some of the musical concepts were abandoned. The lead guitar was replaced by mbira, the keyboards with marimba and Selmor Mtukudzi would not be replaced as a backing vocalist.<\/p>\n

The abrupt switch to traditional instruments meant the sound enjoyed on most recorded albums could not be replicated at live shows. Tuku also replaced long-time manager Debbie Metcalfe with Sam Mataure and became more accessible, particularly in smaller towns and venues.<\/p>\n

As part of his marketing strategy, Tuku always sampled music from upcoming albums during his performances. Following the release of the\u00a0Tsimba Itsoka\u00a0<\/em>album, songs that were being sampled from the forthcoming album included\u00a0Pasai Njere, Kurerutsa Ndima\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Unaye<\/em>, the last two proving to be very popular with audiences.<\/p>\n

However, before this album could be released, its contents were leaked and shared widely. In a bold move, Tuku decided to shelve that project and release an entirely different album: the 2009 offering\u00a0Dairai.<\/em>\u00a0This was his first album incorporating traditional instruments and produced hit songs\u00a0Meso Piriviri, Manyemwe\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Panyatso<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The previously shelved project was later released as\u00a0Rudaviro<\/em>, a great album which suffered from lack of promotion. It included great tracks such as\u00a0Rangu Jana\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Kure Kwazvo,\u00a0<\/em>but none of these songs formed part of Tuku\u2019s repertoire by the time of the album\u2019s release; only\u00a0Mhodzi YeMbeu<\/em>\u00a0which would later become part of his live act. That is not to say it was not well received, as copies of the album were sold out at the live show to premier its release.<\/p>\n

Then tragedy struck. Tuku lost his son Sam in 2010. The\u00a0Sarawoga\u00a0<\/em>album was replete with this message of loss in the song\u00a0Ronga Dondo<\/em>, in the title track and\u00a0a rendition of the Lord\u2019s Prayer. It produced the massive hit\u00a0Watitsvata (Pata Pata),<\/em>\u00a0a throwback to township jazz, but also had sing-along songs in\u00a0Uneyerera\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Chiringa<\/em>.<\/p>\n

This album also marked Tuku\u2019s departure from the use of traditional instruments. He had, in 2011, revised his line up yet again, dismissing and replacing his entire band. However, this album did not have the same booming bass-lines\u00a0of old, which he more than made up for in his 2014 offering;\u00a0Mukombe weMvura<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Mukombe weMvura<\/em>\u00a0was a return to the quintessence of Tuku Music with such songs as\u00a0Kudzinga Hwema<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Hukoche koche<\/em>. Recorded live at Pakare Paye, it is an awesome throwback to the core rhythms of Tuku music. This was followed by\u00a0Ehe ka Nhai Yahweh<\/em>, a more relaxed album featuring Hugh Masekela on such tracks as\u00a0Bhiza ra Mambo<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0Kusateerera<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On the song\u00a0Ndinecha<\/em>, he gives a soulful dedication to his fans. From this album, Tuku recorded a video for the song\u00a0Hunhapwa<\/em>, his first video since\u00a0Tozeza Baba\u00a0<\/em>in 2005.<\/p>\n

His last album,\u00a0Hany\u2019Ga\/Concern<\/em>, produced the hit song\u00a0Wanza Sori\u00a0<\/em>but also had great tracks inShiringinya,\u00a0Mahara\u00a0<\/em>and\u00a0Haasati Aziva\u00a0<\/em>for which he recorded a video.\u00a0It is a fitting finale, offering from the towering musical giant who could make the acoustic guitar\u00a0sound like an orchestra of traditional Zimbabwean rhythms.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IN this article, I look at the last two decades of Dr. Oliver Mtukudzi\u2019s (Tuku) music, from the 1998 scorcher\u00a0Tuku Music\u00a0to his final offering,\u00a0Hany\u2019ga\/Concern. This period is crucially important to Tuku\u2019s legacy as it firmly established him as one of, if not\u00a0the, greatest Zimbabwean musicians of all time. It should be noted that 1998 was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2390,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[22,86,47],"class_list":{"0":"post-2980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-culture-and-art","9":"tag-art","10":"tag-culture","11":"tag-music"},"yoast_head":"\nMutserendende: Two awesome decades of Tuku music - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/mutserendende-two-awesome-decades-of-tuku-music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mutserendende: Two awesome decades of Tuku music\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"IN this article, I look at the last two decades of Dr. Oliver Mtukudzi\u2019s (Tuku) music, from the 1998 scorcher\u00a0Tuku Music\u00a0to his final offering,\u00a0Hany\u2019ga\/Concern. 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