Tuku has been named Musician of the Decade by a Zimbabwean daily newspaper The Herald. The newspaper, describing Tuku’s remarkable growth and achievements in the last decade, said music lovers had witnessed unprecedented comeback by any Zimbabwean musician in the past 10 years.

In its Christmas day edition The Herald said it had reached the decision to name Tuku Musician of the Decade after considering his consistent professional work in music and also outside music.

The daily described Tuku as a versatile artist in reference to his artistic work in music and film and wrote glowingly about his arguably unequalled achievements and community work by a Zimbabwean musician in the period between 1999 and 2009.
The paper considered the growth and development of Tuku’s music at performance level, recording and world tours and also how the compositions had touched people in so many different ways.

“Since the album release (1999) of Tuku Music his beat has been referred to as Tuku Music, an indication he had become an institution unto himself. Much of his music has the universal themes of humility, respect for one another and hope in a troubled world,” said the newspaper. It said the next big musician who came to mind was the United States based chimurenga music icon Thomas Mapfumo.

Said The Herald: “It has been a long winding road for Tuku before he found the working formula in music. At the turn of the millennium music lovers witnessed one of the greatest comebacks of the decade…with the fire-hit album Tuku Music. With the release of Tuku Music there was a marked change in Tuku as a person as well as the musician.”
The newspaper supported its choice of Tuku citing his outstanding work in film where he directed music and composed soundtracks including acting itself and producing. Tuku has played different acting and production roles in Neria, Jit, Shanda, Ndichiri Mudiki, Zvemudundundu, Chipo Changu and the upcoming Sarawoga.

In 2003 Tuku started building an arts development academy, Pakare Paye Arts Centre, in Norton near Harare that has now become fully operational after years of painstaking work at a disused industrial site. There he develops young talent in music, film, drama, sculpture and dance.

The review said Tuku was selfless when he poured huge sums of money into the state-of-the-art Centre where he has already started the second phase of the development – a recording studio, accommodation for artists and other facilities.

During the period under review Tuku has won countless Zimbabwean and foreign awards at the Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA), Tinotenda-Siyabonga Annual Music Awards (TSAMA), National Arts Merit Awards (NAMA), South African Musicians Awards (SAMA) finalist, KORA and M-Net. The University of Zimbabwe and the Women’s University in Africa also conferred Tuku with Arts honorary degrees. He received an international philanthropic award recently from Project Concern International in San Diego.

His work has, in the past, been acknowledged by the world Press when he graced the cover of Time Magazine that described him as “voice of the people”.

Tuku’s charity work has included HIV and Aids awareness. He has recorded an album with children orphaned by Aids in the remote marginal Binga districts, north of Zimbabwe, to raise awareness of the disease. He was a leading voice in a musical cholera awareness production when the sickness was wiping out thousands of people in Zimbabwe in 2009.

Charity work has taken Tuku to world HIV and Aids conferences where he has spoken about the disease from the perspective of an artist and prominent Zimbabwean citizen.

Tuku received the news of being named Musician of the Decade with great humility. He owed the honour to hard work and the support he has received from his fans across the world and particularly from his wife Daisy and family. – tukumusik.com