Musician Dino Mudondo has reinvented himself into a full-time reggae artiste with the release of his latest 8-track album titled Rasta Loving, which he says is an answer to calls from his fan base for new material.
by Kennedy Nyavaya
Mudondo whose career stretches over a decade has in the past been mired in a lot of misfortunes, including scandalous love relationships that at one point almost landed him behind bars and ultimately affected his musical exploits.
It is against this uninspiring backdrop that the Chirangano hitmaker had sunk into oblivion, but he has hopes to soar high once more with the new project.
“In this album I am answering my multitude of fans across the world who had been asking about my whereabouts and why I had gone so quiet,” says Mudondo.
Despite considering quitting music at one point Mudondo, who is now based in South Africa, said he is back as a fully-fledged reggae artiste as he had originally intended in the genesis of his music journey. “I’ve always wanted to be 100% reggae, but I was advised against pursuing this by Simon Chimbetu (the late Dendera maestro) who said it would not be good for my audience at the time,” he said. Luckily for him the advice worked as he went on to churn out some good music which brought him to critical acclaim. “So I did mix my reggae with rhumba biased towards Dendera. I salute the legend master of song Chopper (Chimbetu) because the advice he gave me worked,” recalled the father of two who turns 40 this year.
Still laden with potential, Mudondo is on the verge of signing a deal with the late South African musician Lucky Dube’s band members and producers who also had input in the new project.
“My roots which are stronger in reggae music made me leave the country to look for my hero Lucky Dube’s footsteps and work with his producers and some of the Slave Band members,” he said, adding that the deal was still pending. “I am in the middle of signing a contract with some recording stable which has made it possible for me to start working with these guys.”
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Meanwhile, he believes his love life is also on the right track as he is engaged to his fiancée whom he currently stays with.
“When Jesus says yes I cannot say no and now I believe love just comes naturally,” said Mudondo whose attempt to get back to his former wife hit a brickwall two years ago, but has another dedication for his current lover titled Ndafunga Iwe.
Born in New Canaan, Highfield, Mudondo went to Rusvingo Primary School before enrolling at Ellis Robin High School for his secondary education. He dropped out of school while doing Lower Six to pursue music.
He released a chain of albums between 2006 and 2014 before taking a break.
Some of his albums include Makorokoto (2002), Makoikoi (2003), Nganganga (2004), Winning and Dining (2004), Dino
(2004), Mhemberero (2005) and Rastakwasa (2006), among others.
