Oliver Mtukudzi Archives

Syndicated Loverboy – Oliver Mtukudzi in Kwekwe

8Oct

By Onai MushavaNo Comments

Mbaqanga, Music

Syndicated Loverboy – Oliver Mtukudzi in Kwekwe

Syndicated Loverboy – Oliver Mtukudzi in Kwekwe Recent damning revelations about Zimbabwean superstar, Oliver Mtukudzi’s paternal negligence divided public opinion. This piece revisits the songs Tuku wrote in the heat of his family controversies and libertine adventures. What influence did Kwekwe have on his career over his decade there with his new family and an abused daughter from his first marriage. By Mukoma Onai | October 8, 2024 Oliver Mtukudzi slept with life and death in the same bed. A syndicated loverboy who can be credited with lifting his music to higher truth rather than bending it down to personal weakness. Maybe the most convincing preachers are not the ones who embody their message but those who preach the loudest bit to themselves. Artists are, after all, i...

Is Tocky Vibes the Next Tuku?

Is Tocky Vibes the Next Tuku? Most gatekeepers will jump at any parallel between Tocky and Tuku as blasphemy, so we may well oppose a little mathematics and history to their piety. By Onai Mushava | July 13, 2020 If Van Choga is a drunken dragon on the stage, then Tocky Vibes is an ecological event in the studio. During the "New Dispensation" alone, Mr Vibes has already released seven projects – five studio albums, an acoustic compilation and a singles collection – besides uploading videos more often than your crush’s photoshoots. But – though we could place Tocky Vibes against Van Choga’s energy or against Van Gogh’s authenticity – one question makes more overall sense: Is Tocky Vibes the next Oliver Mtukudzi? On his latest album, Dhongi neWaya, Tocky Vibes pays his...

How Gwenyagitare Got His Groove

How Gwenyagitare Got His Groove And if music is a language unto itself, Monolio's guitar speaks with a Zimbabwean accent throughout his work, from the great Tuku albums, the Chamhembe renaissance and the Afrika Revenge-Pax Afro years to the Zimdancehall turn and guns of the new decade like Mbeu and Tocky Vibes. Not yet 50, Mono has played more than 1000 albums, sungura, chimurenga, reggae, rhumba, even holding his own as the go-to guitarist for the Pentecostal community. By Mukoma Onai | April 20, 2017 Once upon a time in Zimbabwe, a hacker was someone who bent over mbira keys, thumbed his way into your soul and messed around till time meant nothing to you. Since then, generations of lead guitarists from Stanley Manatsa to Trust Samende have made their case as the new keep...