Tuku celebrates birthday in style

If anything, his closing act proved to all and sundry that he remains one of the best musicians the country has at the moment, and undoubtedly, a revered icon, whose product has stood the test of time.
The master of ceremony, Peter Garvin, couldn’t have said it better when in his introductory remarks; said

Tuku’s music has become a “soundtrack to most people’s lives”.
Tuku got on stage at exactly 8.30pm and kicked off the show, with a gospel track, “Baba Vedu”, a yes­teryear release, to warm up the stage and prepare the fans for a great show.

And what a great show it was for a man whose act has lately been described by some critics as being “on the verge of collapse”.
Tuku’s closing act coincided with his birthday. He is now 60 years old and has got more than 50 albums to his name. Watching him play side by side with one of his guest artistes, Wilbroad Muponda aka Willom Tight, you could see that Tuku is a performer par excellence, who exudes both energy and charisma through his dances, vocal ability and, of course, his signature tune — the traditional cough.

On Sunday, his stage work was amazingly tight, and he would intermittently, dance along with his group members, while keeping his eyes on both the guitar and the fans.
Unlike other shows, where he sometimes chooses songs with a mellow tempo, this time his selected discography included a number of danceable tunes that kept the crowd on its feet for a good hour.

Those not so familiar with the lyrics didn’t have to worry much about being left out, because they still find favour in the rich and danceable instrumenta­tion to all his songs, something which makes Tuku’s music rich and palatable to the ear.
Some of the tracks he played include the timeless classic, “Mbombera”, “Tozeza Baba”, “Ndoita Madiro” and “Munondipasa Manyemwe”, which he collabo­rated with an international contemporary and jazz group.

At one time, he was joined on stage by jazz sensa­tion and bass guitarist Edith WeUtonga, who added colour and flavour to Tuku’s performance.
For many fans, the best part of the show probably was when Tuku and one of renowned African musi­cians, Senegalese Ismael Lo, collaborated on the song “Meso Piriviri”.

Both artistes, who are guitarists of repute and blessed with amazing voices, serenaded the crowd with the melody, sound and the lyrical richness of the track, which now had been spiced up by both Sene­galese and French phrases.
Tuku and Ismael Lo are both international icons in their own right; so naturally, their joint performance was indeed a bonus for the cosmopolitan crowd that braved the wintry evening to attend the gig.

The beauty about Tuku’s closing performance was that it was very inclusive and afforded nearly every­one in attendance to get a bit of almost every genre, be it jazz, or contemporary beat, through the selec­tion of his music and the inclusion of other guest artistes.