![]() ![]() In 1975, at the age of 23, he released his debut single, "Stop After Orange." Two years later, he began performing with the Wagon Wheels, a group that featured another highly influential musician, Thomas Mapfumo. Growing up in the poor Highfield neighborhood of Harare, Mtukudzi was the oldest of seven siblings, a role that took on greater responsibility after his father's premature death. In his later years, he continued to sing from his conscience, expressing his fears and hopes for the people of Zimbabwe on his 2018 swan song, Hany'ga (Concern), which was released one year before his death from complications related to diabetes. During the 2000s and 2010s, Mtukudzi became a regular on the world music circuit, touring Europe and North America frequently while become increasingly involved as a philanthropist and human rights advocate in Zimbabwe, to extent that in 2012 he was named a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. Though well-known at home and throughout Southern Africa, it wasn't until the release of 1999's Tuku Music that the international music community took notice. Having established himself in the late '70s, his popularity soared after Zimbabwe won its independence in 1980 and in the years that followed, he released a string of successful albums and branched out into acting as well, starring in his country's first two nationally made films, Jit (1990) and Neria (1992). ![]() A musical and cultural icon in his native Zimbabwe, Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi's songs reflected the daily life and struggles of his homeland by blending together a number of South African music traditions including mbira, mbaqanga, jit, and the traditional drumming styles of the Korekore to create a distinctive style that his fans affectionately dubbed "Tuku music." An inventive guitarist and passionate singer, Mtukudzi was also an astonishingly prolific recording artist, releasing 67 albums during his four-decade career. ![]()
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