By Lance Guma
US based Zimbabwean music legend Thomas Mapfumo had a disastrous festive season after Eugene (Oregon, USA) based Tracktown Studios claimed they lost his entire 15 track album.
Tracktown Studios owned by Fernando Bispo told the Chimurenga music legend that their computer hard drive had ‘burnt’ and they were only able to recover 2 tracks.
Speaking to Nehanda Radio, Mapfumo (74) said he was meant to have released the album before Christmas but now there was no way of recovering the album which was lost.
“The studio is saying we have to re-record the album but this comes with added expenses. We have to raise over USD$1600 to rehire the session musicians we used,” Mapfumo told Nehanda Radio.
The outspoken musician relocated to the United States in 2004 alleging intimidation and persecution by the regime of the late President Robert Mugabe.
He eventually went back to perform in Zimbabwe after the 2017 military coup that toppled Mugabe and which saw his former Vice President and long time enforcer Emmerson Mnangagwa take over.
Mapfumo was all smiles when he landed at the Robert Mugabe International Airport in April 2018. Crowds waited for more than an hour to see their hero coming back after a 14 year absence. He performed on several shows across the country much to delight of his fans.
On his return to the US, Mukanya as he is affectionately known, was scathing of Mnangagwa’s government saying it missed a chance to form a unity government with the opposition that could have built political and economic confidence in the country after the coup that toppled Mugabe.
Mapfumo also bemoaned the deteriorating living standards in the country. Nehanda Radio
