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Tawanda Marwizi Herald Reporter
The body of yesteyear musician Cookie Tutani who died in the United States in December last year arrived home on Monday and will be buried today in Marirangwe.
Tutani (63) died on December 30 in Dallas, Texas where he had settled for about a decade. He succumbed to Hypertensive Cardiovascular disease.
Patron of the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians (ZUM) Webster Shamu on Monday sent his condolence message to the Tutani family.

“May I, on behalf of the Zimbabwe Union of Musicians, Zanu-PF, my family and I, convey our heartfelt condolences to the Tutani family and especially his only child,

Barbara,” said Shamu.

He described the late musician as humble and highly talented.

“Cookie, an unassuming, humble, highly talented bass guitarist, was a product of Harare’s Stodart Boys Club and community Centre. He began his musical career in the 60s with The Weetstones, a pioneering youthful band that shot to fame when they were enlisted to feature at the Texan Rock Band contest at the Glamis Stadium, then a no-go area for blacks,” he said.

He said Zimbabwe has lost one of its most talented musicians who defended Pan Africanism.

“Zimbabwe indeed has lost one of its most talented musicians. He has left a void that will be difficult to fill, for there are not that many musicians today who exude the passion to succeed that is driven by an inner determination to break the chains of exploitation of many by man,” he said.

Tutani and his colleagues formed the Four Aces with whom he lifted the roof in Stodart Hall and at other township venues whenever he sang the Simon & Garfunkel classic “Feelin’ Groovy” (The 59th Street Bridge Song). They toured the region with the Aces.

In the 1970s, Tutani teamed up with legendary guitarist Louis Mhlanga (who has become a household name in South Africa), the late charismatic drummer Jethro Shasha and James Indi to form super group Baked Beans.

After independence he performed with Simangaliso, Shasha, the late guitarist Jonah Marumahoko and nimble pianist Chris Chabuka as Jazz Survivors. Tutani relocated to South Africa in the late 1990s and moved on to the US a few years later.