Stars must be shining for young Tuku Riding on his successful debut album released in December and still fresh from touring South Africa and the United States and straight on to the grand stage of the Harare International Festival of the Arts rubbing shoulders with the greats and making new friends and new fans…the stars must certainly be shining for Sam Mtukudzi (20) enjoying some of the finest moments in his young career in music. And making new friends - of course - Sam is doing just that, striking the right chord in his new collaboration with the United States based jazzman Max Wild who has lived in Zimbabwe. Says Sam: “It’s a mystery how we got connected with Max, myself coming from the background of Zimbabwean contemporary music and Max coming from jazz and getting to create a new sound together fusing some deep jazz.” The two have already recorded a single Teerera already on sale online whose lyrics were written by the senior Mtukudzi himself, Oliver, while Sam helped with the arrangement with Max on the sax. “It is basically Max’s number that we did together under the United States based label Oblique Sound.” Sam, Max and Tuku have also recorded a 12 track collaboration album which is yet to be released. Sam recently played with Max in the US before both were in Zimbabwe for HIFA – the first international platform for the two to perform together. And the HIFA shows were sold out, a cosmopolitan audience coming in full force to enjoy a rare live fusion of Zimbabwe contemporary music and jazz. Wild traveled with his four piece band Sam putting the icing on the cake with a superb performance in a class of its own - away from his father. Sam, one of Tuku’s two children taking after their father’s career plays as a session artist occasionally in The Black Spirits Band - Tuku’s backing group - in between performances with his own Ay Band. “The Ay Band is the project I am using to gain my independence from my father’s shadow as I try to find my own feet. But standing on my own doesn’t and will not remove me from the Tuku family.” With the Ay Band - a seven piece Zimbabwe traditional outfit influenced fundamentally by jazz – the group last year released its debut Rume Rimwe (all songs written by Sam) an album that was rehearsed for two years and features two adaptations from Tuku’s past records. – tukumusic.com |
|
|