With his soul-inflected Tuku style, singer/songwriter/guitarist Oliver Mtukudzi alone rivals Thomas Mapfumo for the mantle of Zimbabwe pop's spiritual father. Mtukudzi recorded his first hits in the late `70s and remains active today. Though it includes elements of Shona and other Zimbabwean...
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With his soul-inflected Tuku style, singer/songwriter/guitarist Oliver Mtukudzi alone rivals Thomas Mapfumo for the mantle of Zimbabwe pop's spiritual father. Mtukudzi recorded his first hits in the late `70s and remains active today. Though it includes elements of Shona and other Zimbabwean traditional music, Mtukudzi's sound also draws heavily on South African township pop and classic R&B. Mtukudzi adores Otis Redding, above all, but his own husky, mellifluous voice sounds closer to Jamaica's Toots Hibbert.
Claiming no overriding stylistic model, Mtukudzi believes in the interrelatedness of all African music, "from Cape Town to Cairo." Just the same, Oliver's winning personality pervades his sound, rendering the Tuku style instantly recognizable. Mtukudzi always packs in a dance crowd at his frequent shows in Harare's hotel/club scene. His rollicking songs and long-legged dance moves go down well, but Mtukudzi says it's his message, not the beat that sells the songs. Acting as a kind of national conscience, Mtukudzi concentrates on family stories, sensitively exploring the social issues people face in their daily lives, including new problems surrounding AIDS and the premature deaths of adults in a family.
Oliver is revered in his native land for his ability to construct thoughtful, popular songs that address Zimbabwe's struggles in a profund yet apparent way that has endeared him to the public but often put him at odds with the ruling powers.
"I have tried to combine some of the beats which are the true, free expressions of Zimbabweans in order to make a national rhythm." -- Afropop.org Senior Editor Banning Eyre
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