Thomas Mapfumo Exits The Music Arena

 

I met Thomas Tafirenyika Mapfumo face to face and sat with him at Hide Out Club in Harare, Zimbabwe's capital city: where he normally performs: when he comes home, that was in 2018. I chatted with him and discussed a lot of things about his music but I didn't tell him that I was a media practitioner. It was on the New year's eve and everything was well organised and matched Mukanya's international standards. He looked very humble and didn't need security around him. His dreadlocks began in the middle of his head which exhibited his advanced age. The 77 - year - old now or 72 - year - old then was very strong and did not need any supporting aid to stand he even performed for hours at that particular function till morning. Well I just thought it would be nice to give a flashback on my encounter with the legendary Zimbabwean Chimurenga music guru. The septuagenarian, mbira maestro's music was instrumental in the run up to Zimbabwe's independence that took place in 1980. His contemporary artists were the likes of Oliver Mtukudzi and Chinx Chingaira. When I was growing up I used to listen to one of Mapfumo's songs like Chipo Ndechangu which used to be screened on the popular Zimbabwe television (Z.tv) program: Ezomgido. However, Mukanya fled the country to the United States of America in the turn to the millennium where he still is after being a critic of the Mugabe adminstration that collapsed in 2017. It was through a prominent journalist Hopewell Chin'ono that I learned Mukanya is on the brim of staging his last shows. He will be one of Zimbabwe's first musician to officially retire at an advanced stage and fulfilling his music legacy in the right conclusive manner.