Around 1980, when Zimbabwe was moving towards it independence,
Oliver Mtukudzi set to sing revolutionary jam songs
with undertones targeting the repressive Rhodesian
regime. Some of the songs played by the band,included
songs of the day-to-day social life of the people
and the essence of Ubantu (humanity). Quoting words
from the man himself, he says , “Before independence,
it was the fight against the Rhodesian regime. My
music then spoke against oppression and the repressive
regime and how we were suffering at the hands of the regime.
I left school and for three years I couldn’t find a job, yet
I was one of the few guys among my peers with a fine secondary
education. But I couldn’t get a job because I was black. My
music then helped people identify themselves…who we were and
what we wanted to be.”
In all his music in pre-independence,
Oliver never took on the Rhodesian regime
head-on, preferring the power of metaphor
to communicate meaning. “I wasn’t afraid of anyone.
The beauty of the Shona language [the majority vernacular
language in Zimbabwe] is that it is endowed with all those
rich idioms and metaphor… and the beauty of art is that
you can use the power of language to craft particular
meaning without necessarily giving it away. So, I used the
beauty of Shona to communicate in my own way and people got
the message. To this day, Oliver incorporates the aspect of
self-discipline and tolerance in his repertoires.
He is emotional about the socio-cultural norms
and principles that govern the Shona traditional
way of life, particularly the respect for the next person.
