‘Tuku Moza tour was my biggest flop’
By Vasco Chaya
Award-winning music promoter, Partson “Chipaz” Chimbodza, who recently waved goodbye to showbiz after a 13-year stint, has singled out music superstar Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi’s tour of Mozambique several years ago as his biggest flop.
Chipaz told the Daily News that the flopped Tuku tour of Beira was the sore point of a generally successful music promotion career.
“Several years ago, I took Tuku to Beira. I poured a lot of money in organising and marketing the tour. It was looking very promising but just like that there was a sudden downpour on the day of the concert and as a result no single person came for the outdoor concert,” said Chipaz.
The situation was so bad that the Zimbabwean promoter was left completely grounded so far away from home.
“I didn’t even have a cent at the end of it all. Tuku came to my rescue and gave me a few dollars for my transport from Mozambique,” Chipaz said.
As for his most successful concert, Chipaz mentioned the 2010 HICC Shutdown gig which featured music stars Alick Macheso, Tongai Moyo, Tuku and Allan Chimbetu.
“The 2010 HICC Shutdown gig remains my best because it attracted a huge crowd and we had advance tickets pegged at $5 but we ended up selling tickets for $30 (my apology to my fans for that) but that’s showbiz for you.
“The event always reminds me of my late brother-cum-father-cum-friend Tongai “Dhewa” Moyo who contributed a lot in creating the Chipaz brand,” he said.
Though he has thrown in the towel because of some “enemies” he refused to name, Chipaz said he was quitting generally satisfied with what he achieved over the 13-year stint as a promoter.
“I am glad that I am the first music promoter to receive a national award from the National Arts Merit Awards (Nama). I was also the first promoter to organise soccer matches between football legends and musicians for eight consecutive years.
“I was also the first promoter to support Zimdancehall music in a big way. Though I successfully brought to Zimbabwe some international artistes, my main thrust was more on promoting local talent and this makes me very happy,” he told the Daily News.
Chipaz’s journey in music industry can be traced back to 2004.
“I started promoting in 2004 when I had an opportunity to rent a night club in Chitungwiza which I ran under the name Club Chipaz. I would bring a number of artists to my venue and then realised the potential of making money through organising shows at Club Chipaz as well as outside Chitungwiza. That is how Chipaz promotions was born.
“After regularising my promotion papers with the responsible authorities, I started touring the country with the late Tongai Moyo, Freddy “Kapfupi” Manjalima and David Machowa (Apama),” Chipaz remembered, adding:
“I kept the momentum and began promoting big artistes such as Mtukudzi, Macheso and Nicholas Zakaria. I even took Tedious Matsito of Ngwenya Brothers to Mozambique.” Daily News
