![](\"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/oliver_mtukudzi.jpg\")
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Oliver \u201cTuku\u201d Mtukudzi, born in September 22, 1952, in Harare, is Zimbabwe\u2019s music superstar and a household name throughout Africa. A songwriter and guitar player, he is undoubtedly one of the fathers of the independent Zimbabwe\u2019s modern music, boasting a rich, 35-year-old career. His sound is a blend of traditional East African genres and modern subgenres of Afropop. Most importantly, he is an inspiration for African geniuses in threes aspects.<\/p>\n
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<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n First, through the Orpheus\u2019 art, he champions the cause of the wretched of Zimbabwe and Africa, with emphasis on the woman\u2019s condition (typified in the song Neria<\/em>); the demoralizing socioeconomic crisis in Zimbabwe (noticed in <\/span>Tiregereiwo<\/em>, a track of his 48th<\/sup> album Nhava<\/em>), leading him to pleading for God\u2019s intervention; the devastating HIV-Aids (spotted in <\/span>Todii<\/em>, a track of the Tuku Music<\/em> compendium disc), etc. His tackling of such social issues was rewarded with the title of Zimbabwe\u2019s first UNICEF goodwill ambassador for Eastern and Southern Africa in 2011.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Second, Tuku\u2019s hard work, experience and far-sightedness drove him to the invasion of the world music in the bid to conquer the global audience, as well as growing throngs of western-oriented African youths. This move is sealed with the 2002 album Vhunze Moto<\/em> (meaning \u201cburning ember\u201d).<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The sound is western-soul-like, as perceived in the opening track Nde Kuvara<\/em>; whereas the instrumentation is beautifully sophisticated with the introduction of piano, electric keyboard, xylophone, and western-style, Van Morrison-like arrangements, as observed in the track Tapera<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Its impact on the global scene is compounded by a later album Tsivo<\/em> (2003), which is the very first acoustic album that his band, The Blacks Spirits, has ever recorded. This effort got acknowledged by the Government of Italy that honoured him with the awarding of the prestigious Cavaliere of the Order of Merit Award (equivalent of the Knighthood in England) in 2011 in recognition of his status as an international musician.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Last, Mtukudzi is the Zimbabwe modern music powerhouse given his prolific artworks (48 albums) and the unmatched number of the awards he clinched domestically and internationally.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Aside from the abovementioned awards, the most outstanding awards are the M-Net Best Soundtrack Award in 1992, for Neria<\/em>; the Korah All Africa Music Award for Best arrangement (2002), for Ndakuwara<\/em>; the Korah All Africa Music Award for Best African male artist and Lifetime Achievement award (August 2003); and Honorary M.Sc \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0 Oliver \u201cTuku\u201d Mtukudzi, born in September 22, 1952, in Harare, is Zimbabwe\u2019s music superstar…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":516,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/516"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amagep.co.za\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
(fine arts) Degree awarded by the Women\u2019s University in Africa (2009)<\/span> OLIVER <\/span><\/p>\n