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1/ Everyone talks about Tuku the musician.But what struck me more than anything was his service to others & to causes he believed wld improve the lives of others.A few yrs ago I bumped into Tuku at OR Tambo Airport & we talked at length about the role of arts for social change.
2| We were in a long line & we patiently queued & talked. You can see how happy we were in the picture.Way after immigration we continued to talk about what else, how else we cld use arts to change society for the better. He was already doing it.He'd been doing it from the start.
3| There is no artist who sang about contemporary issues the way Tuku did. His music was not just to entertain. If it was not to sensitise, or to draw attention to an injustice, it was to shock or ridicule & chastise unacceptable, greedy & uncouth behavioir in society.
4| It was political in a very personal sense.Take Chinhambwe- one of my favourites- which implored pple to mind their own business & not meddle in matters that do not concern them.Or Nyanga Yenzou, that deplored the "predatory" behavior of in-laws shaking down their sons in-law.
5| Or the better known Neria, highlighting the plight of widows and condemning the pervasive and backward cultural behavior of extended families unjustly depriving widows and the children of deceased persons of their property.
6| After we spoke at OR Tambo, Tuku gave me his card & said we shd sit down & properly talk about what else he could do.Mind you he was already ambassadoring for the UN HIV/Aids Campaign & already building opportunities for young musicians at Padare.Still he was ready to do more
7| We did not speak again until around August 2018. Hopewell Chin'ono, another talented Zimbabwean creative artist and brilliant filmaker- called me one day and said, "Chief I am with mukoma Tuku & he wants to talk to you."
8| We were in the middle of collaborating on a film on mental health in Zimbabwe (State of Mind) which Hopewell was producing & directing. The organization I work for, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa @OSISA was funding it as part of our disability rights initiative.
9| So, a few yrs after we'd talked at OR Tambo & in the most unexpected way, we were going to collaborate.When he came on the phone he thanked me for supporting the initiative. Honestly it was he who deserved thanks. I revenged the thanks, telling him it's he who deserved thanks.
10| He refused to be paid for his musical score - even as I know he spent many hours with Hopewell and Dr. Dixon Chibanda, the lead psychiatrist at Harare Hospital and lead character in the film.
11| When, the film was done and I watched it, I realized just what Tuku did. "Saraoga, oga oga"- unleashes pain, helplessness, despair, hopelesness, and a loneliness that victims and families affected by mental health face.
12| Between Tuku, Hopewell, Dixon & all the amazing people in the film, the message is conveyed in a way that it never leaves the viewer and listener. It means so much in this Covid-19 moment that has devasted mental health in unspoken ways.
13| Rest in Power mukoma Tuku!
