adminIT is two weeks since British singer, Adele, launched her comeback single – Hello – after a three-year break, and has already rocketed to number one around the world, being heralded as the song of the century. The soul-wrenching Hello has become the fastest selling singles in the UK this year, attracting over 114 million views on YouTube.
It is the second-fastest video to notch 100 million views on YouTube after the 2013 Gentleman by Psy, his Gangnam Style follow-up, according to a statement from the company. As a result, the song has triggered an avalanche of cover versions with one of them being done by a 26-year-old Zimbabwean activist and musician, Tapiwa Kudakwashe Mugadza (known professionally as Taps Mugadza).
The orphan who was born in Harare, turned to music in his teens, last week sang Hello with the same soul-wrenching emotion as 27-year-old Adele a few days after the single was released.
Words, like: “They say that time’s supposed to heal you, but I ain’t done much healing…” and “I’m in California dreaming about who we used to be…” are made more poignant when one discovers that Taps, who now lives in Los Angeles, was abandoned on the doorstep of St Joseph’s orphanage for boys in Harare when he was just two days old.
Mugadza also revealed in an interview last year how he used to cry himself to sleep as a little boy. With close to 250,000 hits on video sharing site – YouTube, Mugadza initially posted the Hello cover version on his Facebook a few days ago saying: “As a young boy, I didn’t fully understand the life I was born into. Life was hard and never easy.”
“But it’s because of that hard road that I walked from an early age, that I’m able to overcome the trials that life throws at me, and now I allow my heart to speak for me when words fail…” Taps began singing gospel music at church and when he was 15 years, he took part in singing competition A-Academy where he came third.
During a guest appearance on Take Part Live – an interactive news show in California, USA, the artiste revealed that at 18 years, he had to leave the St Joseph’s orphanage, as did all boys, and that he became a volunteer digging wells because he had seen how kind other people had been to him and the others at the home.
He then joined a Christian mission group – ROCK of Africa – which helped find him sponsors to go to America in 2009. There, he studied at the Musicians Institute-College of Contemporary Music in Hollywood and graduated as most “Outstanding Artiste”.
He further told TakePart Live that while he embraced America and found it “really, really cool” to be surrounded 24/7 by music and like-minded people, he vowed to never forget where he came from.
One of Mugadza’s original songs, What have I done, released in October 2014 was directed by long-time collaborator, James Davis II (JD2), who also directed Taps’ cover of Hello. He also sang another song, Africa which talks about how the world views Africa and how Africans view themselves. — SAPeople/Showbiz Reporter.
Online Reporter