ALEXIO Kawara in collaboration with Solomon Mareza and Christopher Joe has come up with a single —— Samanyika Waenda —— which is dedicated to the life of Fortune Muparutsa, a Zimbabwean musical maestro who died recently in the United Kingdom.
The song stresses the role as well as the achievements of Fortune Muparutsa in the evolution of Zimbabwean music. In it Solomon and Alexio express their sadness on the death of Fortune “Wolfman” Muparutsa.
 The album which features house and acoustic versions of the song was recorded at Track Records by Spencer Masango and is not for sale. For those who want a copy it is available for free at Track Records studios. The music is receiving airplay on ZBC’s Power FM.
Fortune Muparutsa made a name for himself in local music circles with his hit songs such as Sangoma and Rumors-Makuhwa released in 1991.
Born in Mutare on June 14 1968 Fortune was exposed to music at an early age since his family members were also into music. Muparutsa —— who at age seven was able to play the guitar —— was also a musical engineer and producer. Besides recording his own music, Fortune produced songs for a number of local artists, among them Alexio, Solomon, Prince Tendai, Tia, Innocent Utsiwegota, Langton Deo and a number of other notable artists.
Most of his hit songs were released in the early 1990s and had a great impact on the trajectory that local music took from there. He is credited as being one of the pioneers of the “Urban Grooves” genre particularly with his album Wheels of Fortune. —— Staff Writer.
