Black Spirits still going strong

Clodine Manyozo Entertainment Reporter
The passing on of Zimbabwean music legend Oliver Mtukudzi did not lead to the fall of his band, The Black Spirits.

The band is still going on strong and keeping his legacy.

In an interview, lead guitarist Rodwell Roda said they did not change in any way as a band and they did not split as speculated.

Roda said they were also venturing into other projects.

“We are eight members in the band who include Charles Njekesa, Prosper Mashipe, Samantha Mtukudzi, Donald Kanyuchi, Nigel, Innocent, Simbarashe and myself,” he said.

‘‘We have not changed the way we used to work when he was still around. We still work together as we did before.”

The Black Spirits agreed that they would not have a leader in their group.

“We do not have a leader in the band because we can all sing, so each one of us can rehearse and perform their best songs as we go,” said Roda.

He said they were no longer doing new productions.

“All is well, except that we no longer do new productions, we just perform the songs that we did when Tuku was there and it is going well that way,” he said.

Apart from playing for the Black Spirits, Roda said he started writing his own songs a long time ago with support from the late icon.

“Mdara always encouraged us as his band to do our own projects as well and the tracks on my upcoming album are the songs I wrote way back,” he  said.

Band manager Walter Wanyanya said they were still having some shows.

“Our last show was on Friday the 14th at Pakare Paye where we performed with Jah Prayzah,” he said. “We are also keeping the legacy of Tuku by singing his songs in our performances and we  practice at Pakare Paye.

“Nothing has changed and we are still doing what we used to do when we had him around.”

The Black Spirits have shows lined up outside Zimbabwe.

“We have another show in two weeks’ time at Pakare Paye and in April we will be in South Africa as well,” Wanyanya said.

He said Tuku always motivated them to do their own projects.

“We would do other businesses outside the band and this has not stopped because we always got encouragement from Tuku himself,” said Wanyanya.

“People from the band are doing well with their own projects and our lead guitarist Rodwell Roda is working on his own album, which is a good  thing.”