MUKANYA FINALLY LEAVES ZIM

CELEBRATED chimurenga musician Thomas Mapfumo finally left for the United States last Friday after more than two months in the country.


Mapfumo arrived in the country in December last year for the Peace Concert that took him to various places including Gweru, Bulawayo, Mutare and Beitbridge. However, the Peace Tour failed to yield desired results in terms of revenue.

As a result, Mukanya accused the tour promoter Maxwell Mugaba and his team of having connived to swindle him and sabotage his tour. Mukanya told the media he delayed his return to the US so as to stage extra gigs to pay his band members as they got nothing from the Peace Tour.

“After music promoter ... Mugaba duped me during the Peace Tour of December, I delayed my return... because I wanted to work and pay the band that I had contracted. “I could have returned before settling the arrears but ethically it is not right. 

“What I strive for is just peace of mind,” he said then. During his stay in Zimbabwe, Mukanya worked with a number of musicians as well as stirring some controversies. The tough-talking musician literally attacked musicians such as Alick Macheso for failing to take his brand internationally and Zimdancehall icon Winky D for not being original.

Even though his sentiments did not go down well with some sections of the society, Mukanya remained defiant. That is Mukanya for you!

Even when his life was on the line, with central intelligence operatives on his tail, Mapfumo never shied away from speaking his mind which ultimately led him to 14 long years in exile.
While in the country, Mukanya went on to attack heavyweights in the ruling party Zanu PF, accusing them of fuelling music piracy.

“I have carried out a research on the causes of music piracy in our industry and the results are shocking. “Political heavyweights are the ones owning factories of music piracy in Zimbabwe and for this reason, piracy is not ending.

“Imagine the factories of music piracy are guarded by Zanu PF youths. That’s not how it should be done; political heavyweights are killing youngsters’ industry,” Mukanya said then. Daily News

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