The song tells the story of an emigrant who has traveled far away from his ancestral home and is being taunted because of how dark his skin is.Luckily, his mother suggests the person comes back home where they are loved and missed.
Kyker on his life called Oliver Mtukudzi: Living Tuku Music in Zimbabwe, page 130, Mtukudzi commented on Dzoka Uyamwe. And its a song that I was trying to inspire people to go back to their roots. And even if they dont have to work, but if they remember their roots, they will always have something to do. For the last 15 years, he ran the Pakare Paye Arts Center, an arts complex he founded in 2003 in Norton, a town 25 miles west of Harare. He became a star in Zimbabwe in the 1970s and later performed across the globe. Credit. Scott GriesGetty Images By Giovanni Russonello Jan. Oliver Mtukudzi, whose singing and guitar playing harnessed influences from across Southern Africa to create the most popular musical style in Zimbabwe, died on Jan. Harare, the nations capital. He was 66. The cause was heart failure related to diabetes, said Damon Forbes, a record executive and promoter who had worked with Mr. Mtukudzi for more than 20 years. Starting in the late 1970s, Mr. Mtukudzi (pronounced muh-too-KOOD-zie) recorded numerous albums 67, by his count and became a hero throughout Africa. Magaisa wrote that Mr. Mtukudzi was arguably Zimbabwes finest ambassador. Though an official figure was not available, conservative estimates suggest that Mr. Mtukudzi sold millions of albums over the past 40 years. He sang anthems of social lament and timeless wisdom, typically in Shona, Zimbabwes predominant language, but also in English and Ndebele. His music pulled from traditional Shona rhythms and sounds while incorporating influences from South Africas more cosmopolitan, jazz-inflected mbaqanga tradition, as well as African-American dance music. What resulted a kind of soundtrack to Zimbabwean life in the late 20th century became known as its own idiom, called Tuku music, after Mr. Mtukudzis nickname. I looked for a sound the guitar couldnt make, in a guitar he told the South African publication TshisaLIVE in an interview shortly before his death, remembering his early years. I used to look for a mbira on the guitar strings, he said, referring to a traditional Shona thumb piano. In the 1970s, as a member of the band Wagon Wheels, he played alongside the singer Thomas Mapfumo, who would become the only other Zimbabwean musician with a reputation to rival his. ![]() Mr. Mtukudzi stayed, and cemented his status as the countrys most renowned musician. His popularity in Zimbabwe reflects the fact that in a country bitterly divided by political allegiances, he positioned himself as a unifier. While Mr. Mapfumo took a strong political stance in his music pioneering a genre known as chimurenga (revolutionary struggle music in Shona) before the fall of white minority rule, then vigorously criticizing Robert Mugabe, who ruled the country from 1980 to 2017 Mr. Mtukudzi generally avoided taking a political side. He sang at events for the ruling ZANU-PF party, as well as the wedding and funeral of the opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. But his songs boldly told the stories of his communities, and he made no effort to avoid social issues. Perhaps his biggest hit was Todii, a cautionary song about the perils of H.I.V. Tuku Music. Powered by a melancholy chorus of background singers and the gravelly lament of Mr. Mtukudzis lead vocal, it warned listeners of the virus that by then had infected a quarter of Zimbabwes population. Another popular song, Neria, from 1993, told of a woman thrown into poverty by a law that kept her from inheriting her husbands property. Written as part of Mr. Oliver Mtukudzi Todii Movie To NeriaMtukudzis soundtrack for a feature film, it so impressed the filmmakers that they changed the name of the movie to Neria. Nine years later, the same filmmakers made Shanda, a documentary about Mr. Mtukudzi that documented him as he toured Zimbabwe. Many of his songs urged government leaders as well as everyday people to focus on the well-being of Zimbabwes children. And Mr. Mtukudzi did throw the occasional veiled political swipe. In 2001 he released Wasakara, whose title translates to You are worn out, a song widely seen as a plea for Mr. Mugabe to step down. Image Mr. Mtukudzi, left, with an unidentified musician at the Pakare Paye Arts and Music Centre in Norton, Zimbabwe, in 2018. Mr. Mtukudzi spent his last 15 years running the center, an arts complex that has a recording studio, classrooms and performance spaces. Credit. Jekesai NjikizanaAgence France-Presse Getty Images He was a nation builder, Paul Mangwana, a senior Zimbabwean government official, told The Associated Press. Where it was necessary to criticize he would, and where it was necessary to praise he would. Mr. Mtukudzi sought to strengthen his community through deeds as well as music.
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