NORTON – Our young prodigies from our arts development institution continue to rise and shine in showbiz even brighter than any constellation of stars.

On the night of Friday 30 July you must stop everything. And this is the reason why: Come to Jazz 105, in central Harare, for the Winter Jazz Festival and see our Munya - one of the sure superstars of the next generations. Munya stands out so prominently amongst his peers for two clear reasons: He speaks to his guitar, tells it what to do and it complies. He is a pristine storyteller with distinctive jazz flair that stands out perfectly despite his music being reduced to the minimalist of instrumentation.

And Munya is not coming alone to the festival. There is our own Ay Band too who backed the late Sam Mtukudzi who was another of our boys from Pakare Paye Arts Centre.

Now, when these two young acts meet and are pitted against the madhara-madharaz perhaps the conclusion is true after all that in the face of music age is only but a number. Sounds like a cliché but very real on a fine day when these youthful acts mean business. They rock for sure. Come testify.

Munya (Mataruse) is in the jazzy flock. He came to Pakare Paye Arts Centre in Norton in his teens in search of talent development. He got it.

^ Munya (centre) performing with Tuku and Charles Chipanga.

Together with many other teenagers, the likes of Sam Mtukudzi, Munya did not only acquire skills to strum the guitar. Like his peers at the Centre he went on to develop in acoustic instruments such as the marimba which he now teaches occasionally at schools in his Norton hometown as part of his own community work. And he teaches for free too just the way he was developed for free at the Centre. All about charity beginning at home, isn’t it?

With massive material already ready to put out a couple of albums, Munya has selected numbers for his debut release which he has tentatively called Dengu reMhodzi (Calabash of Seed) as a working title for the CD.

Says Munya: “Since I started performing at festivals my confidence has grown so much that I can rock at any platform. We have been trained hard and equipped with the necessary life skills for showbiz. Munya is here to rock.”

Munya and his band Kazevezeve quite often perform as opening acts for Oliver Mtukudzi who has personally developed this extraordinary talent – our undisputed superstars of tomorrow. Of course, we are not shy, once in a while, bragging about the legacy of our arts development programmes and the fine reputation that speaks for itself.
See you at the festival. – Shepherd Mutamba/tukumusik.com