A year on, Zimbabweans remember Oliver Mtukudzi

Tuku’s daughter, Selmor Mtukudzi, shared screenshots on Facebook of the final WhatsApp message she received from her father. In the message, Mtukudzi tells his daughter he is feeling better but that his singing has seen better days.

“I have a song that I will send to Aaron, on which I want you and Shupi to add your voices. It's about us as a family,” Mtukudzi’s message reads translated to English. “Shami, Sybil and auntie Bybit also have their own parts in the song. I will try give lyrics to each of you.”

The screenshots of the message were accompanied by a note in which Selmor tells her father that she misses him:

“Dad, it will be a whole year on the 23rd of January and yet my heart still skips a beat when I hear your music played. My heart beats when they refer to you as ‘the late’. I still can't believe it. It is very difficult for me to go through our messages to each other. I can't stand the thought that I will never see another message from you.”

Music In Africa spoke to Mtukudzi's former backing vocalist, Vimbai Zimuto, who joined Tuku's Black Spirits Band in 2007.

"He was one of the humblest people I ever met and working with him was a blessing," she said. "I learnt a lot of things from Tuku. He was that selfless person who would always correct you in a very respectful way; he respected everyone around him. Whenever I think of Oliver Mtukudzi, I remember moments on stage that were often unexpected. He would sometimes say, ‘Vimbai, solo,’ you know? Then I knew I had to do a solo without having practiced beforehand. It made us the artists we are today.

"On days like today, people will find it easy to play his music but some of us find it difficult because we remember moments that most people never saw.”

Another former band member, marimba player Charles Chipanga, praised Mtukudzi for being an unfaltering bandleader.

"Tuku was a master at his game who never considered quitting at any point," Chipanga told Music In Africa. "He might wake up not feeling too well but he would say, 'The stage heals me'. That's how much of a fighter I knew him to be. I learnt some of the best instrument arrangement skills that I still use up to now. I used to play marimba before I met him but he made me fall in love with other instruments. I believe I gained more from him than I contributed to his legacy. May his soul rest in peace."

Tributes have also come in from the media fraternity, with veteran arts journalist Garikai Mazara sharing his thoughts about Mtukudzi’s contribution to his country.

“It’s been a year, and there will be many more years to come, but people in the mould of Mtukudzi do not die,” Mazara, who extensively covered Tuku’s musical career, wrote on Facebook. “Listening to any of his compositions, it all seems like he is simply in the next room. He is so much alive. If there is any person, probably except for Robert Mugabe, who put Zimbabwe on the world map, it was this man. May his music and influence continue to inspire generations to come.”

Lesotho-based Zimbabwean journalist Silence Charumbira shared his memories of Mtukudzi. “Many years prior to his own departure Oliver Mtukudzi had lamented, ‘What is a hero? Do I have to die to be a hero?’ And indeed, the conferment came when he was gone. For me, he was [a hero] long before the fateful day. Just as there are many other artists and individuals who toil day and night for their country and families. You are all heroes."

Mtukudzi's label, Tuku Music, yesterday said it would release a video titled 'Kusateerera' on the first anniversary of the musician’s death. The video was shot by Mtukudzi to honour his dear friend Hugh Masekela, who died on the same day, 23 January, a year earlier.

"We are a day away from the 23rd of January, which is the day that we lost Dr Oliver Mtukudzi last year, and also the same day we lost Hugh Masekela in 2018,” a social media statement by Tuku Music reads.

“Before Dr Mtukudzi passed away, he set out to shoot a music video in memory of his friend and brother Dr Hugh Masekela. He worked on this video of the song 'Kusateerera' and finished shooting it in Harare but we didn't release it before he passed away and now both icons are no longer with us but their music is still very much alive and we will continue to celebrate them in various ways."

Watch 'Kusateerera' below: