Tinoonga Mawere|Harare, Zimbabwe- Information Deputy Minister Energy Mutodi, who is a singer in his own right, has chronicled the late Oliver Mtukudzi’ s lengthy and illustrious career.
“Thomas Mapfumo had been born to extremely poor parents Janet Chinhamo and Tapfumaneyi
Mupariwa of the Munhumumwe family and he persuaded Oliver Mtukudzi to sing in Shona apart from helping him set up the Black Spirits
before he configured his own band, the Blacks Unlimited.
Mtukudzi defected from the Paul
Mukondo promoted Wagon Wheels band and formed the Black Spirits band, releasing a hit song “Ndipeiwo zano”. His main rival was Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo, another
korekore man born in Marondera to Guruve parents in July 1945,” said Mutodi.
“The young Mtukudzi grew up as a ghetto boy in the poverty stricken African township where his father worked but would frequently visit their rural home where he was exposed to katekwe music and dances. This gave his music a rich
English and a deep Arican flavour.
Originally Oliver Mtukudzi comes from Mupfurudzi village under Chief Mutumba in the va- “korekore” domain in Mashonaland Central
Province. The village is located between Bindura and Mt Darwin Growth Points.”
“Oliver Mtukudzi was born on 22 September 1952 in the Highfields Community in the then Salisbury, Rhodesia now ZIMBABWE. He
started his music career in 1977, playing in the Wagon Wheels band alongside Thomas Mapfumo and James Chimombe.Dzandimomotera was his first hit song.
A theory proposed by Dr Oliver Mtukudzi was that musicians should not be compared because each is unique in his or her own right.”
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