Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Oliver Mtukudzi's Ndakuvara

Check out this great video of Oliver Mtukudzi's Ndakuvara. Over the next several weeks, we'll be learning how to play this song.

Oliver Mtukudzi is a veteran singer/songwriter from Zimbabwe. He has always spoken truth to power, first to the white-ruled Rhodesia, and now to the disasterous and cruel rule of Robert Mugabe, but he has couched his criticisms in allegorical lyrics, such as in this song.

This is very interesting: there are no mbira or kalimba parts in Oliver's band, but as a Zimbabwean songwriter, the guitar parts of his songs are heavily influenced by mbira/kalimba music. When we translate this music over to kalimba, we complete the circuit, and take Oliver Mtukudzi's music back to its own roots.

 

 

 

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