Selmor reflects on Tuku's legacy
SELMOR Mtukudzi’s forthcoming album — “Dehwe reNzou” — is a typical bare all production, The Sunday Mail Society can reveal.
This writer got an opportunity to sample, or preview if you like, a few tracks from the 10-track project due for release this Friday.
Without doubt, the Steve Dyer Tribe Studio-produced album gives an insight into the singer’s feelings and thoughts before and after her fathers’ demise last year.
“Dehwe reNzou” is as emotionally charged as they come!
Most of the songs on the yet to be released project seem to address the various challenges that Selmor has gone through in both her personal life and music career.
A verse from one of the songs whose working title is “Uchafinhiwa” goes like this: “. . . ukapakura zvekuzadza ndiro yako, uchafinhiwa nazvo. Wapihwa mukana pamapoto, asi wofunga ndiro yako chete, sadza, rice, cake, zvese zhuu mundiro imwe, uchafinhiwa chete.”
In the aforesaid track, Selmor is ostensibly chastising a greedy family member.
A medium-paced, yet hard knocking beat buttresses the pacifying intonation that characterises the track. But it is the simple, yet highly artistic mellow link between the bass and lead guitars that keeps the listener connected.
The clarity of message, the well-thoughtout punchlines and the easiness of the lead vocalist on the emotionally bruising song has potential to send many into tears. Enter “Zvine Basa Rei?”
“Zvine basa rei kuti wakamitiswa ukasiiwa wakadaro? Zvine basa rei kuti chikoro chaikunetsa, vaberiki vakafa ukasiiwa uri nherera zvikakutadzisa kupedza chikoro? It does not matter, you have all sorts of upbringing challenges, it is what you do with your life later and the little that you have that matters, not your background,” goes part of the chorus.
“Mandidzimbira”, a single that she dedicated to her late father, was released last Thursday to commemorate the first anniversary of the passing on of the music superstar.
However, it will also feature on the new album as a bonus track.
Selmor further expresses her grief in song. She explains how she was and continues to be pained by her father’s loss.
However, “Dehwe reNzou” is not entirely about sorrow as there are other themes that touch on various social aspects. The musician displays her ability to mimic Dr Tuku by periodically adopting his trademark cough and various other overtones that characterised the late singer’s work.
However, compositions on the forthcoming album easily prove that Selmor is no greenhorn.
The musician has been in the industry for over a decade and boasts five albums, among them “I Am Woman” as well as “Expressions” which carries the hit track “Nguva Yangu” and “Shungu”.
Unlike other sons and daughters of fallen music legends that try hard, some with little or no success, to sound like their departed parents, Selmor has maintained her signature touch.
She is herself.
The sound on the album is crisp. Veterans like producer Steve Dyer, Never Mpofu (bass guitarist) and Sam Mataure (drummer) played a crucial part to guarantee the album’s brilliance.
In an interview with The Sunday Mail Society, Selmor said the album was inspired by real-life situations.
“I’m speaking through my music. This is my first production since the death of my father and it is reflecting my inner thoughts. What I go through is exactly what the next person experiences, meaning the message is universal,” explained the crooner.
“I’m not about material things. My father never spoon-fed us. He taught us the importance of hard work and never to be cry-babies, that is the message I’m preaching in the album. Everyone needs their father’s love and moral support and that is all we ever asked for and miss today, not his wealth.”
The crooner said she is confident the album will scale new heights.
“We enlisted the services of different producers and men of instrument. The album is way above every other production we have released thus far in every sense. The commitment from the team was just amazing.”
“Dehwe reNzou” will be launched on January 31 at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Showgrounds’ R.M. Garden Hall in the capital.