BY WINSTONE ANTONIO Former Murewa Culture Centre manager and veteran artiste Cuthbert Kuchi Maziwa has died.
He was 67.
Maziwa who made headlines in the late 1970s with the band Eye Q, died on Tuesday after a short illness, according to his friend and former schoolmate John Masuku.
In his condolence message, National Arts Council of Zimbabwe (NACZ) director Nicholas Moyo described Maziwa as an accomplished artist who possessed natural expertise in creating, developing and curating arts ideas into living creative testimonies.
“The death of Maziwa has robbed the country of a true doyen of the music sector, a veteran arts and cultural practitioner as well as an accomplished cultural programs administrator and a multi-gifted curator of arts festivals,” he said.
“Maziwa and his name will for years resonate with the Zimbabwean arts sector as he was an active participant for decades as a multi-genre musician, artiste, singer, acclaimed guitarist, accomplished arts administrator and a veteran arts and culture festival curator.”
Moyo said Maziwa was a prolific and unstoppable creative whose fervent passion for the arts is remarkable.
“Maziwa was at the forefront of turning around the Murewa Arts Culture Centre into renowned art and cultural heritage hub in Zimbabwe housing the, Jerusarema Mbende which was Inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008,” he said.
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“His (Maziwa) great footprints in the Zimbabwe Cultural and Creative sector are undeletable as he thought out and curated many arts events in the country. Among his many achievements, he famed for founding the globally profiled music arts organisation, Music Crossroads which has now been turned into a full-time music and arts school.”
“He also spent a greater part of his life coordinating and curating the Mashonaland East Cultural Arts Festival (MECUFA) which ran concurrently with Jerusarema Mbende Festival.”
Moyo said after retiring from the NACZ Maziwa founded the National Training and Conference of Arts in Zimbabwe (NATCAZ) a non-governmental organisation dedicated to the growth of arts and cultural industries in Zimbabwe which he led as its executive director.
“NACZ will forever cherish Maziwa’s time in the different capacities that he served where he exhibited unparalleled leadership and creative capabilities which helped to shape the structure of the organisation and its programmes,” he said.
Born on October 9, 1954 in Murewa, Maziwa founded the Rock and Roll outfit Eye Q in the mid-1970s with his schoolmate Herrington Nyamariva on bass, Phineas Marumahoko on drums and vocals and Solomon Chiweshe on keyboard and vocals respectively.
With Maziwa on lead guitar, Eye Q band became very popular after the release of Please the Nation, a political song that became a hot-selling single.
The group went on to release other notable seven singles including I am selfish, Lonely, Widow and Making a Life out of Music.
Maziwa then ventured into arts administration on September 1 in 1994 when he joined NACZ as the projects and training officer at the head office.
During his career with (NACZ) Maziwa held various roles that included principal programmes officer pointed in June 2007.
About three years later, Maziwa was appointed the manager for Murewa Culture Centre in May 2010, a position he held until his retirement on the December 31 in 2016.
Mourners are gathered at number 10 Oliver Road Waterfalls in Harare.
- Follow Winstone on Twitter @widzoanto
