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Jonathan Mbiriyamveka Entertainment Reporter
Zimbabwean top musicians Alick Macheso and Oliver Mtukudzi have so much in common.
The two share a common history that dates back to their formative years when they were little known up to the time they hit the spotlight.Speaking at a luncheon held to celebrate Macheso’s belated 46th birthday at Garwe Restaurant over the weekend, the two artistes had a similar story to tell.

Not only did they struggle for long before they made it, but also, their journey was full of ups and downs.

They also toured far and wide across Zimbabwe including the remotest of places where they would sleep either on benches or on stage after the show.

For Macheso life as a musician was not all rosy, in fact, at one point he wanted to quit but could not do so since he had barely graduated from high school.

“I had boyish looks when I started music and more often than not club owners would ask if I was not under age. They were only surprised to see me on stage playing the bass and that was the only time they took me seriously,” he said.

On one hand, Macheso aka Extrabasso also spoke of how difficult it was to advertise a show during their countrywide tours.

“There were no mobile phones at the time and when we wanted to advertise our shows, we would send one guy with posters to all the places that we had lined-up shows.
“But the worst part was that after the shows we would sleep on benches. Imagine, you would fall asleep but never fell from that bench. I remember at one time, Madzibaba (Nicolas Zakaria) and his wife slept on the stage while the rest of the of the band members were on benches. We would toss and turn on that bench without falling,” he explained.

On the other hand, Mtukudzi or Tuku concurred with Extrabasso narrating his first show in Domboshawa when he was a rookie.

“My first gig we played in Domboshawa after Tineyi Chikupo refused to perform. We went to Mverechena and asked the club owner to perform. On that day, Tineyi Chikupo had refused to perform and he climbed up a tree. So after speaking to the owner he allowed us to perform but the challenge was that we had one song ‘Dzandimomotera’.

“We played the song for the first time and the crowd loved it, then we played it twice, the crowd went wild but it was the only song that we had recorded and we played the song throughout the show,” he said.

However, the club owner was impressed and Tineyi Chikupo was fired while he was still on that tree.

Reminiscing about his first tours, Tuku said it was never easy since musicians had to organise and promote their own shows.

“At times I never used to tell my mother that we were going on tour because the other time she hit all the amplifiers so that we could not tour.

“We would go on tour for three or so months. And one day on tour, the amplifiers blew up after we had performed one song. That was the end of the show and there were no refunds,” he explained.

But looking back, both Tuku and Extrabasso cherish the experience they had whether good or bad because it made them the artistes they are today.