{"id":3480,"date":"2019-04-19T06:41:00","date_gmt":"2019-04-19T06:41:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3480"},"modified":"2026-10-27T06:57:38","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T06:57:38","slug":"how-to-be-oliver-mtukudzi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3480","title":{"rendered":"How to be Oliver Mtukudzi"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"760\" height=\"420\" src=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/16299541_1762956823730399_4388495184482582205_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3481\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/16299541_1762956823730399_4388495184482582205_n.jpg 760w, https:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/16299541_1762956823730399_4388495184482582205_n-300x166.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 760px) 100vw, 760px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Rukudzo Onai<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It helps to start with a studio fee, a six-digit <em>Instagram<\/em> following, industry connections, an arts degree and, perhaps, a rockstar wardrobe, then adding a friendly business and political environment, if you are going to be your country\u2019s foremost global icon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But you can also be a downtown upstart, coming up from the dark side of the Rhodesian colour bar, and still become Oliver Mtukudzi. To be a ridiculously dope artist, in other words, is not so much a question of context as it is a question of spirit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be Zimbabwe\u2019s most commercially successful poet, the most positive story out of your country and simply one of the greatest Africans of all time, you do not just lean into history but you bend it around with heritage, conscience, integrity and extra work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Conscience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talent makes an artist, but humanity makes a hero. You might have the husky voice tailor-made for the charts, and your fingers might be intimate with guitar strings more than your tongue is with the roof of your mouth, but how far do your eyes see? If your conscience is not awake to the condition of the weakest in your society, well, you have already missed the first thing about becoming Oliver Mtukudzi.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Talent makes an artist, but humanity makes a hero.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be Oliver Mtukudzi, when your country\u2019s soldiers beat and rape women, you record \u201cZivai neMwoyo\u201d to remind them that they are human before they are soldiers. \u201c<em>Zivai nemwoyo, varume, ndimi munoshinha\u2026 Midzimu yedu yaikudza Mwari, vakomana\u2026 Ndisu tave kurova Mai, pafungei, apa pafungei..<\/em>.\u201d Remind them that their unusual methods of \u201cprotecting\u201d the citizens affront God and torment the spirit of Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When your people are destitute at home, let your very first album voice the desperation. \u201c<em>Ndatadza kushiringinya, ndiri pamakumbo paAma<\/em>i\u201d (I\u2019m not at home in my mother\u2019s lap). Sing the pain of a lost generation that is at home anywhere but home in \u201c<em>Ndipeiwo Zano\u201d, \u201cNdiri Bofu\u201d and \u201cGunguwo<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thisisafrica.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/tuku-habib.jpg 760w, https:\/\/thisisafrica.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/tuku-habib-253x169.jpg 253w, https:\/\/thisisafrica.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/tuku-habib-660x440.jpg 660w, https:\/\/thisisafrica.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/tuku-habib-440x294.jpg 440w\" src=\"https:\/\/thisisafrica.me\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2017\/05\/tuku-habib.jpg\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Two legends, Oliver Mtukudzi (R) and Habib Koit\u00e9 (L) perform a duet at Hifa in the Harare Gardens on Sunday, 7 May, 2017. Photo: Shorai Murwira\/This is Africa<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And when the comrades have sung your songs in the bush, and returned home to lead, remind them occasionally of their promises and responsibilities to the least of their people in \u201c<em>Mukuru\u201d, \u201cKumirira\u201d and \u201cHunhapwa\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let your music be a cultural catechism, mindful of the privileged who weaponise culture to oppress women and desecrate children. Take them to <em>dare<\/em> (traditional fireside court) with <em>\u201cDai Ndine Mukoma\u201d, \u201cNeria\u201d and \u201cSandi Bonde<\/em>\u201d, and let children be allowed to be children with <em>\u201cStreet Kids\u201d and \u201cTapindwa Nei?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Heritage<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be Oliver Mtukudzi is to be what Zimbabwe has that the world does not have. Your originality is not rootlessness but the individual expression of your roots in response to the challenges of your time. You are the cultural revivalist, and <em>\u201cDada Nerudzi Rwako<\/em>\u201d do not simply form part of but also inform the path of your international breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be Oliver Mtukudzi is a life-long search for identity, not just in the fireside orature, music traditions and right-living codes of your country but also in Pan-African engagements. The trumpeters, drummers and crooners of the continent share endearing collaborations with you because the spirit of Africa was never really imprisoned by Berlin Conference borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The spirit of Africa was never really imprisoned by Berlin Conference borders.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When the Black Spirits\u2019 guitars have spoken all the languages of Dande griots under the new moon, hang them for marimba, as the Blacks Unlimited once hung theirs for mbira. When the Zimbabwe Renaissance is already four decades along since <em>Ndipeiwo Zano<\/em>, play <em>Dairai<\/em> because your heart is still alive where old paths intersect with new challenges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">English you could have sung all right but there is more to be said in the beauty, richness and wisdom of your mother\u2019s tongue. This you readily do, with one-liners that can be mistaken for ancient proverbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When there is no more space for accolades on your cabinet, from Afropop Hall of Fame to Kora, and you have been voted one of the 100 Greatest Africans of All Time, alongside Tshaka, Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King and Thomas Sankara, remind the young that to be great is simply to be yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Integrity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Be the voice and soul that you want to be and the world will listen to you on your own terms whenever it catches up with you. You do not become Oliver Mtukudzi if money or trends are uppermost in your mind when you hit the studio. Writing to corporate considerations, streaming algorithms and Internet trends will get you charting, but what good is it when you are just going to be another seasonal puppet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">When you are making music for all time, no time is too much of a cost. When you plant your feet where you want them, obscurity is a small price to pay. To be Oliver Mtukudzi, compose to your own feelings and values because trends are written to be revised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Oliver Mtukudzi and Winky D perform a duet at Hifa in the Harare Gardens. Photo: Shorai Murwira<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do not despise obscurity; it is where you become the voice and soul you want to be. Carry your personal struggles into the studio because that is where the soul is at its most intense. You may even have to record <em>Sugar Pie<\/em> and <em>Ndega Zvangu<\/em> without your band, and <em>Wawona<\/em> with a different band, but when the artist in you finally arrives, the businessperson in you will not be far behind.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nothing from your forgettable years will actually be forgotten. When you have become international, you will feed the market eight compilation albums from the material that sailed beneath its radar during your obscure years, from <em>The Tuku Years<\/em> to <em>Wonai<\/em>. And everyone will just have to dance because you were already The Superstar before they recognised you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Excellence Means the Extra Work<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whichever Oliver Mtukudzi you want to be \u2013 the matchless musician, the cultural revivalist, the mentor, the human rights defender, the philanthropist or just the hero \u2013 never forget the words <em>\u201chatina nguva yatinofunga kuti tinayo\u201d<\/em> because time really is never yours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Recover the years you spend in the wrong vineyard with an album for each year of your life. When you depart, the nation will only be starting to discover how much gold is in your estate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be Oliver Mtukudzi, be yourself without compromise. The labour of your love and the power of your voice will never be forgotten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>First published by<\/em> This Is Africa<em>. All rights reserved. Contact author at rukudzoonai@duck.com<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oliver Mtukudzi is dead but the world has hardly begun to skim the surface of his greatness. In this tribute, Stan Mushava flips through the African superstar\u2019s catalogue, looking at how conscientiousness, attachment to heritage and artistic integrity were not only central to the making of the legend but are also the universal mainstays of art. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3481,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[113,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3480","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mbaqanga","category-music"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to be Oliver Mtukudzi | Blockspace<\/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:\/\/blockspaceballads.com\/?p=3480\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to be Oliver Mtukudzi | Blockspace\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oliver Mtukudzi is dead but the world has hardly begun to skim the surface of his greatness. 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