Upcoming musicians should not expect to be pampered but rather prepare for a turbulent musical journey if they are to make it, legendary musician Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi has said.
By Kennedy Nyavaya
The crooner officially launched his 12-track album titled Eheka! Nhai Yahwe at Pakare Paye Arts Centre in Norton on Thursday at a luncheon, which was attended by stakeholders in the music industry.
In an interview with The Standard Style on the sidelines of the event, Tuku said being a musician was not all that rosy.
“What I would want to tell the youngsters is that this path is rough and it is not tarred; while it is like that, you also do not get lifts. You have to walk every step of it because you will face many challenges,” he said.
Tuku, who can easily pass as an all-time icon of culture in the country, said safeguarding morals was also a key to success.
“In this line of work, there is nothing easy. You work with all your heart and in that if you lose yourself it loses value because it is not a competition; you should work on just being an acceptable person,” he said.
“People won’t listen to you if you are not morally upright. You have a chance of being listened to and you get to mould a better character along the way,” he said.
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With the advent of one-hit wonder musicians and short-lived careers, one can attest that in addition to talent musicians nowadays need more aggression to sustain relevance.
This has seen many finding solace in collaborations with bigger artistes to try taking their music to wider audience, but Tuku believes success can only be achieved by hard work and not riding on the success of others.
“If you come with your own song and think I want to be uplifted by Tuku and think that having him on the song will be successful, that collaboration does not work and many become bitter,” he said.
With a well-decorated discography endowed by hits over the years, Tuku beamoned piracy as he noted that some pirated copies of his new offering were already being sold on the city streets.
“It is stealing because it is gaining profits from where I have put hard work then you just reap freely, it’s criminal,” he said.
His manager, Sam Mataure also weighed in on the cancerous business of pirating, which has destroyed the careers of many.
“Piracy kills the artist; there is a lot of work and money put into these projects for someone to just come and sell them their own will without the artist getting anything is absolutely wrong and I wish our government takes piracy as a crime, that is the only way they can curb it, otherwise it will go on and on without government intervention,” said Mataure.
