SINGER DETERMINED TO MAKE INTERNATIONAL BREAKTHROUGH
AFROFUSION singer Tafadzwa ‘44 Msalad’ Dhliwayo says his music has the potential to make an impact at an international level.
His style is a fusion of various African artists, and he hopes that by continuing to develop his craft, he will be able to promote Zimbabwean culture to a wider audience.
Dhliwayo’s latest EP, Letters to Maureen, is a collection of six tracks that explore the themes and difficulties of a relationship and features stories that he hopes will resonate with listeners.
“My goal is to raise the Zimbabwean flag high and share my love for music with the rest of the world, since my music is mostly in Shona.
“I hope that through my music, Africans start to take interest in the Zimbabwean urban culture as they have done with South Africa, Nigeria and Tanzania,” he said.
His passion goes back to his early childhood.
“I have always been passionate about music from an early age and I largely was inspired by the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, even though his influence does not appear in my music.
“It’s not easy to break into the industry, but getting airplay for my last video Tichava, featuring Tasha BX, inspired me to get back into the studio and release the EP Letters to Maureen.
“It’s been a journey, and I am hoping the EP will be well received. My team, Kippoman and Bigboy Beats, really put in a lot of hours into putting it together.”
He said Maureen started out as fun studio banter and then became some sort of muse, a fictional character of sorts that kept making appearances in most of his lines
“There’s storytelling in this EP from Mwoyo Unoda, early stages of a relationship that culminate in a wedding song Rudo, somewhere in the middle.
“We have Hating which talks about external forces that try to break up a relationship.
“I view relationships as a journey with many turns and my goal was to show them in all their different forms.”