The Sunday Mail
Prince Mushawevato
THE pull of legends is simply irresistible. Look at the turnout for Dr Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi and Alick Macheso’s Africa Day eve show.
Everything about the show, from a planning perspective, was wrong.
It was a Tuesday evening and not a weekend. The weather, for many days now, has been more suitable for huddling under a blanket and not for attending a music gig. And the pockets of money were empty as the month’s pay cheque had not yet come in. The show came at short notice and Tuku Music and Cheso Power Music had little time to market it.
But we are talking of Tuku and Macheso. Such star power could probably hold a show at 3am in the remotest part of Zimbabwe and still pull thousands.
It is not easy to fill the Harare International Conference Centre and only high-riding locals Jah Prayzah and Winky D have done this in recent times.
Dubbed the clash of titans, last Tuesday’s Tuku-Macheso show proved beyond reasonable doubt that the two are the big thing. Tuku and Macheso are Zimbabwe’s most celebrated artistes, and the two first shared the stage in 2003 as the latter was showing the nascent signs of stardom.
Apart from the favourable admission fee (US$5), Tuku’s forthcoming album “Eheka Nhai Yahwe” set for release in June contributed to the favourable turnout.
Likewise Macheso aka Baba Sharo could thank his latest offering “Tsoka Dzerwendo” that has now been on the market for two months for the healthy crowd.
The assumption is justifiable considering that the sungura maestro played after the senior superstar and managed to hold the crowd until the wee hours of Wednesday morning.
Often, people start marching out when the star billing has folded his/her act. Not this time as the crowd stayed on with Macheso.
The sungura king opened the gig with songs off his latest album and the audience loved every moment of the set.
Sam Mataure, Tuku’s manager, was preening after the the event.
“People were happy despite the chilly weather and we are pleased they came in their numbers. I think the turnout was good for a mid-week show. It was not bad,” he said.
Macheso’s public relations manager Tich Makahamadze added: “This was a super event. It showed a lot. The two legends justified the gig by delivering polished acts.”
The Africa Day Eve gig was opened by newbie Sam Dondo.
Tuku came in soon after the lad’s performance and delivered a vintage performance, belting out some of his classics. His fans, however, were left disappointed as the veteran musician did not sample tracks from his forthcoming album.
Speaking to this writer just before his set, the veteran said, “There are now a few options each time you want to have a gig. Back in the days we used to have a number of choices at our disposal for live gigs but that is not the case anymore. We have retrogressed because potential investors are not channeling funds towards venue development.”
