TENDAI Manatse and Selmor Mtukudzi took their ostensibly inherited Afro-jazz prowess to the stage when they performed their first public show this year at Book Café on Thursday night. BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA
One could have easily been left reminiscing the good old days of the legendary Zexie Manatsa and Oliver Mtukudzi who are fathers of the young couple. Manatsa (Tendai) unpacked some of his new songs set for release soon, much to the gratification of the sizeable crowd in attendance.
The lanky guitarist sent the crowd into frenzy with his As long as ndichifema song which he wrote for his dear wife, but little did the revellers know that they were up for a treat of a lifetime.
The show later turned into a family affair with Manatsa inviting his three brothers who were in the crowd to come and perform his Ndezva Mwari track. At that point the stage resembled the Tuku and Zakes legacies as the four brothers played instruments while the Tuku songbird took to the mic, dancing as if to counter the compact display by the brothers.
It was towards the end of the show that the couple started dishing out the old tracks from their fathers’ archives in new form that the whole crowd was left mesmerised.
In an interview on the sidelines of the show, Manatsa silenced reports that he was now doing completely different projects with his wife saying it was impossible for them to be separated. “No one cannot separate me from Selmor, we have our music as individuals, but we work together,” he said.
