Monday, February 18, 2013

Oliver Mtukudzi - Zvauya Sei? (1986)

Oliver Mtukudzi's rich voice and unique musical style have made him popular throughout the world. "Tuku Music" draws from Shona, Ndebele and South African roots that made it broadly accessible. Wikipedia lists fifty-five albums in Mtukudzi's discography, and many of those from the second half of his career were international CD releases. With his tireless touring and prolific song writing, he became a darling of the world music industry. For awhile the CDs came so frequently that each one seemed routine.


This record is from relatively early in Tuku's career, when his popularity in Zimbabwe was ascendant. I prefer it to some of the later, slicker releases, though the intimately familiar sound is essentially the same. By the way, earlier I posted a great live set from Tuka here.

4 comments:

John B. said...

Bonnie Raitt: "Oliver Mtukudzi is the Otis Redding of Zimbabwe!" What the hell is that supposed to mean? Thanks for this recording.

cp said...

the great thing about loving a prolific artist like Tuku is that i'm constantly finding stuff he's recorded that i've never heard before . . . thank you for this (new to me) disc!

Apurva Bahadur said...

Many thanks for sharing this rare disk from Oliver Mutukudzi. Apurva from Pune, India.

Anonymous said...

Many thanks for this. You won't want to miss a 2013 concert from Tuku here:

http://www.npr.org/event/music/168491292/oliver-mtukudzi-and-the-black-spirits-globalfest-2013

(Click the Download button)

or, in fact, the reformed Orchestre Baobab either:

http://www.npr.org/2008/06/19/91597883/orchestra-baobab-in-concert

Cheers, Dave Sez.