I still love my music: Mutyebere

and “Ndibereke” in 2007, which earned him two accolades for Best Male Gospel successively.
“You have to appreciate that music is a God-given talent. It is not something that I dream and I don’t take time to sit down and write music, it naturally flows in my blood.
“Having said that you should also appreciate that I didn’t do music on a full-time basis. I did music as a way of praising the Lord and this is what I still do today.
“Even when I don’t release an album it does mean that I have stopped singing because I still do that at my church and I still love my music,” he said.
Mutyebere, who is signed to Ngaavongwe Records, said while the music was a gift from God he was also gifted in running a business.
“Quite honestly, running a thriving business is like music, it’s a gift from God and for me it was really a coincidence that when my music was at its peak so was my business. That was around 2006 and 2007.
“However, if you remember very well, I never used to hold shows, if anything. It was the record label which staged the Ngaavongwe Explosion and we never earned much from the concerts.
“The shows were meant to give artistes from the stable exposure. Foreign artistes the likes of Rebecca Malope or Sipho Makhabane were the ones who got a bigger share,” Mutyebere said.
“Musicians like (Alick) Macheso and others are good at what they do because they have all the time to rehearse and stage shows but for someone like me, it’s different because I’m not a full-time musician.
“We are not under any pressure to release albums and there is not time that we sit down and write a song or two, it just happens. I don’t sing for earthly things but for God,” he explained. According to Mutyebere, music and business run parallel because one is personal while the other is not.
“Music is a gift and so is business. This is why you see somebody who has never been to school employing people with PhDs or degrees.
“So the seed that God sowed in me has germinated in business, that is why our Chicken Slice food outlets have won two accolades.
“God has blessed us so much and we won the Entrepreneurship of the Year Award from the Zimbabwe National Chamber of Commerce, and only two weeks ago we won the Best Customer Care Excellency Award from the Zimbabwe Institute of Management Southern Region.
“Business is one entity and music is another entity on its own and I don’t think I can mix the two,” he said. Mutyebere is hopeful that the future is bright since Chicken Slice has been earmarked for numerous awards.
“It shows  that we’re doing well and more people are now aware that there is Chicken Slice,” he said.
Mutyebere is the group chief executive officer of Chicken Slice, a subsidiary of Con-Tools Holdings established in 2005. Before setting up his own business, Mutyebere, who holds a Master of Business Administration and Bachelor of Accounts degrees from local universities as well as a Diploma in Marketing. While more people see Mutyebere as an accomplished businessman, he says music is still very much a part of him. A father of three children — Paidamoyo, Anesu (Tawanda Jnr) and Izwirashe (Jewel) — Mutyebere is married to Juliane.