‘Music producers being sabotaged’

Standard People
BY STYLE REPORTER Music producer Takudzwa Uta, aka Monster, has lamented lack of support for local music producers. The Dzivaresekwa-based producer, who has worked with a number of artistes including the late Zimdancehall star Soul Jah Love, believes the music industry terrain is skewed in favour of musicians yet producers are  the ones making it […]

BY STYLE REPORTER

Music producer Takudzwa Uta, aka Monster, has lamented lack of support for local music producers.

The Dzivaresekwa-based producer, who has worked with a number of artistes including the late Zimdancehall star Soul Jah Love, believes the music industry terrain is skewed in favour of musicians yet producers are  the ones making it happen.

He said there is blatant lack of support for music producers, something which he believes is contributing to the decline of the local music industry.

“As producers, we are facing a lot of challenges chief among them being seen as inconsequential in the eyes of music promoters. Even radio stations won’t play our music if it’s coming from music producers, they would rather play recurrently one song from a well-known musician,” Monster told Standard Style.

“In other countries, producers are given the same treatment as musicians and in most cases, producers are taken care of just like musicians. They are all artistes. But, it’s a different story in Zimbabwe. ”

However, Monster said besides setbacks, he was working with a number of local and international artistes, particularly those in Jamaica.

“So, far I am working with locals Kemikal HkD, Larry Wood, Sosa and Don Coloss. I am also doing some projects with a Zambian artiste called Stepholic as well as a number of Jamaican artistes including Peppehot, Badda Genaral, Famous Twenty and Frisko,” he said.

Monster was the brains behind the production of Soul Jah Love’s song Ramba Uchizvimbisa and Lady Squanda’s Bad Gal [Killing Machine Riddim 2018] with Zayaan Empire and Sparks Records.

Monster said if given support he would want to take his trade across the globe, producing music for international artistes.

“All I need is support. If we support our local producers, chances are likely that most of our local music would be played internationally,” he said.

He said working with big artistes such as Lady Squanda, Daruler, Maggikal, Poptain and some Jamaican musicians has refined him into a producer who has what it takes to match globally-acclaimed production artistes.

Monster was born on September 3, 1998 in Harare and attended Rainham Primary School and proceeded  to Dzivaresekwa High 2 School for his secondary education.

“My musical journey started at school where I was part of the choir. However, I did not take it seriously as I believed it was just part of the extra-mural activities at school, but little did I know it was going to define my destiny,” he said.

“I only realised my talent when I started to produce music for my friends and my first production was a single titled Kubooker Mamatch, which was sung by Kemikal HKD in 2015.”

Monster operates under Sparks Records with DJ Sparks and they work with a number of producers, including Nhubu Digital, King Vibes Studio, Samcrise and Angeo Pablo, among others.