By Chofamba Sithole
LONDON – Living outside one’s country can be one of the most alienating and disorientating experiences ever. For Zimbabweans in the UK, our common language and cultural familiarity with the host society means that we do not exactly suffer a massive culture shock upon arrival on these wind-swept isles.
But while many Zimbabweans manage to integrate into British society with relative ease, the same can’t be said of how they handle their estrangement from all that is homely and familiar.
And for those who, for various reasons, aren’t able to ease their homesickness by visiting the home country, their sense of being culturally marooned is all the more acute. Enter Oliver ‘Tuku’ Mtukudzi and his acoustic guitar – stripped down ensemble of marimba, bass, drum and backing vocals in tow – on a mission to soothe the cultural malnutrition afflicting the Zimbabwean Diaspora.
From the turn of the century, the numbers of Zimbabweans who chose to vote with their feet and set up base abroad began to swell substantially. And since that time Tuku has been at it, like a musical Florence Nightingale, doing the ward rounds across the Zimbabwean Diaspora. With song and dance, he has nursed their weeping wounds of nostalgia and empathised with them over the painful realities of life in exile.
“Hakuna akaziva Marimuka idikita (No one knew that life in the Diaspora was hard work and sweat),” Tuku sings on Izere Mhepo, a track that laments the tough and often unrewarding life of many in the Diaspora. To a community that is caught up between the drudgery of round the clock shift work and unremitting responsibilities to families back in Zimbabwe, such insightful and empathic lyrics go a long way in making Diaspora lives more understandable to those back home.
While the Zimbabwean government has only in recent years started formally working on its Diaspora engagement policy, it is fair to say that Tuku is now way into his second decade of cultural engagement with the global Zimbabwean family. There’s not a single substantial Zimbabwean community outside the borders of our country that he has not visited.
It is no surprise therefore, that the 2013 edition of the Zimbabwe Achievers Awards (ZAA) has decided to honour Tuku with a Lifetime Achievement Award for contributions to music and culture. ZAA chief executive Conrad Mwanza hailed the legendary musician as an artiste par excellence and a cultural champion who has served his nation with remarkable distinction.
“We’re proud to honour Tuku for his sterling contribution to the entertainment and enlightenment of our nation through his music. Not only that, he stands as the biggest cultural ambassador our country has today and has over the years consistently raised the Zimbabwean flag high and made us all proud to be Zimbabwean,” Mwanza said.
Radio legend Ezra Tshisa Sibanda, who is also a promoter and producer of Tuku’s UK and European events, described the 60 year-old musician as Zimbabwe’s greatest entertainer of all time.
“His contributions to the culture and music are immense. First of all he is arguably Zimbabwe’s best selling artist of all time and most recognised in the world. His music broke all the boundaries, penetrated Africa and is largely responsible for promoting the welfare of children and poor people. Many of his songs are related to humanity and welfare of people, which has gained him respect throughout the African continent and beyond,” Sibanda said.
Tuku’s artistic genius has been critically acclaimed by experts and fans alike, and his brand of music has become an iconic sound that carries the unmistakeable identity of the country of his birth. Veteran Zimbabwean journalist Percy Zvomuya of the South African Mail & Guardian described Tuku’s sound as follows:
“[It] borrows from the rhythmic melody of the mbira, relies on the pace and energy of jit (a drum-based sound) and uses other drumming patterns popular in the north of Zimbabwe such as dandanda and katekwe and the South African sound of mbaqanga, known in Zimbabwe as simanje-manje. All this is melded with the vocalist’s poetry, idiomatic lyrics and social commentary. The result is what the musician’s fans have dubbed Tuku music.”
It is no coincidence that of the five events nominated for ZAA Event of the Year, two of them feature Mtukudzi’s shows – the first with Alick Macheso and the other, a solo performance at the world class IndigO2 in London. The full list of ZAA nominees for 2013 has now been unveiled and public voting will commence at a date to be announced soon.
ZAA executive producer Peter Soko promised a scintillating show with a line up of top notch performers that include US-based R&B singer and actress Tinashe Kachingwe. “The full line up of performers will be out in due course. But let me say that from the main event itself to the after-party, this year’s awards ceremony is set to be more impressive in organisation, more glamorous and more entertaining, but yet much cheaper than last year’s,” Soko said.
Meanwhile, Tuku arrives in the UK next week for jaw-dropping performances in London and Leicester with none other than Chimurenga music guru Thomas ‘Mukanya’ Mapfumo. The tour will mark the first ever joint appearance by the two doyens of Zimbabwean music in decades.
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