Mataruse endears himself to Mtukudzi

and that is what Oliver Mtukudzi has done to Munya Mataruse.
Although it’s been a year since his son Sam died in a car accident along Bulawayo Road, Mtukudzi, the brains behind Pakare Paye Arts Centre, has embraced Munya as his own.
Probably his biggest find so far at his centre in Norton that nurtures and identifies young talent, Munya and his Kazevezeve Band is fast filling in Sam’s shoes and now that the AY Band, which was the late Sam’s ensemble, has vanished into thin air.
But thanks to Tuku’s vision, Mataruse has made him proud and being the good student that he is, has slowly but surely built a steady fan base.
Only on Wednesday, Tuku and some officials from Pakare Paye were part of the audience that turned up for Mataruse’s performance at the Harare International Festival of the Arts’ Coca Cola Green.
There, he performed a mixed bag of his new songs and golden oldies by legends of Zimbabwean music.
The vintage performance included hits by Leonard Dembo, John Chibadura, Mtukudzi himself, System Tazvida among others.
Backed by Watson Chidzomba Jnr on drums, Alice Muringai on vocals and Simbarashe Navhaye on bass, Munya put up a good show that delighted fans including Tuku, who could be seen enjoying every moment of it.
Like dynamite, which comes in small packages, Munya is set for greater heights.
He ventured into music as a young boy at Chiedza Primary School, where he learnt dance, percussion and marimba music. He auditioned for the percussion band and became a bass drummer before joining the marimba band where he played jiti, mhande, chinyambera and jikinya. In his last two years at Chiedza, Munya was also in the traditional dance troupe.
After completing his O-Levels in 2004 in Norton, he learnt of a programme that grooms actors, actresses, poets and musicians at Pakare Paye Arts Centre and enrolled for a music course.
The rest, like they say, is history as Munya began to establish himself as his own man, forming a band and later curtain-raised for Mtukudzi.