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In a country divided, Mtukudzi's music unites
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Boston Globe, In a country divided, Mtukudzi's music unites >>
As his country falls apart, everything seems to be coming together for Oliver "Tuku" Mtukudzi. The guitarist, songwriter, and persuasively soulful vocalist has been a hero in the southern African nation of Zimbabwe for more than a quarter-century, with a vast body of uplifting songs in his signature "Tuku music" style.
In recent years, he's gained a following in the United States through his albums on the world music label Putumayo, but with his latest release, "Nhava," he's joined the high-powered roster of Heads Up Africa, which includes the long-established international stars Miriam Makeba, Hugh Masekela, and Ladysmith Black Mambazo.
In the midst of his largest US tour yet, which brings him and his eight-piece Black Spirits band to the Somerville Theatre tonight, Mtukudzi is reaching a new audience here just as circumstances in his country worsen.
Zimbabwe's economy has ground to a halt, and experts fear famine is on the horizon. As elsewhere in southern Africa, HIV infection is rampant. And in the eyes of many observers, the political system's legitimacy has collapsed after a series of disputed elections ensured that Robert Mugabe maintains his iron grip as president.
The situation seems to have outstripped the power of Tuku music to bring the people together.
"My music has helped to unite people and be positive," says Mtukudzi, 52, sounding beleaguered during a phone interview from South Africa. "My music is trying to help people do things in harmony and live properly without hurting each other, not to use hatred, which never solved anything."
While Mtukudzi has long avoided getting embroiled in partisan politics, the election last March, which returned Mugabe's ZANU-PF party to power, almost cost the musician his credibility. First, one of his hits, "Totutuma," was used in a television ad for the party without his permission. Then many fans were shocked to hear that he had performed at a ZANU-PF rally, which seemed to echo the way in which popular artists such as Brian Mteki, Simon Chimbetu, and Plaxedes Wenyika have been compromised by their association with the ruling party.
It turned out that Mtukudzi had performed at the celebration with the understanding that it was apolitical, and a statement he released maintained he's in no politician's pocket. "This is a gross abuse of human rights," Mtukudzi wrote, "so many of which have been violated in order to secure the government's grasp on power. . . . I believe that this is a deliberate strategy to undermine my popularity as a singer, and to prevent my songs from being used as a rallying point for those who believe in a true and tolerant democracy."
Mtukudzi's songs don't carry explicit political messages, but he makes it easy to read between the lines. On his 2000 album, "Bvuma" (Tolerance), his song "Wasakara" says that old men should know when to retire gracefully.
"You are old/ You are spent/ It is time to accept you are old," he sings, in a line many assumed was directed at Mugabe, who was then 74 years old.
But his quest to stay above politics is one reason he's still in the country. "Thomas Mapfumo is in Oregon in exile," says Heads Up president Dave Love, referring to another giant of Zimbabwean music. "Oliver is the most popular artist in the country, but it's very difficult for him to be outspoken. He doesn't want to be a politician. He wants to remain an artist."
What makes Mtukudzi's music so powerful is that he delivers his messages with a gritty vocal style reminiscent of Otis Redding over intricate interlocking patterns adapted for guitar from mbira (a traditional musical form of Zimbabwe's Shona people played on a thumb-piano-like instrument of the same name). Tuku music also incorporates the hard-driving South African mbaqanga beat and the katekwe drumming patterns of his Korekore people.
It's a sound he's been refining for decades. Mtukudzi was already a rising star in 1977, when he joined the popular band Wagon Wheels, which also featured Mapfumo, who went on to stardom as a solo artist. Mtukudzi transformed the band into Black Spirits in 1979 and produced the epochal album "Africa," which firmly established him as the voice of the newly independent nation.
A prolific artist he's released more than 40 albums in Zimbabwe Mtukudzi only started gaining widespread attention in the United States in the mid-1990s, when Bonnie Raitt began championing his music. She cited his song "What's Going On" as the inspiration for her tune "One Belief Away" on her 1998 album "Fundamental." More important, Mtukudzi began working with the British producer Steve Dyer, who helped create his 1998 hit album "Tuku Music."
Far more than a musician, Mtukudzi has been deeply involved in other art forms. He was featured in "JIT," the first film with an all-Zimbabwean cast, and played a leading role in "Neria," a feature film for which he also wrote and arranged the soundtrack. He also wrote and directed the musical "Was My Child," a production exploring the plight of street children in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare.
Lately, he's been producing recordings by other Zimbabwean artists in his new Harare studio, where he also recorded "Nhava."
Despite the government's attempts to compromise him, Mtukudzi says he is confident that he retains the trust of the people.
"My music is one of the very few things that Zimbabweans share equally, no matter where you come from, what color you are, what tastes you have, or what party you support," Mtukudzi says. "The aim of my music is to try to unite everyone. And whatever decision you make politically, that's your own baby, but we should do it in harmony, together."
-Andrew Gilbert 06/11/05
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