The ManicaPost
Entertainment Correspondent
MUTARE-BORN musician Peter Thulani Mutsemi, who is based in United States of America, has released a new single track and eyes to reincarnate the brilliance of the late legendary music genius, Fortune Muparutsa who also hailed from the eastern border city.
Mutsemi has bounced back after a two-year hiatus and has come up with a new sound for his ThulaniMusic.
In his latest single, Mskana Akanaka that was dropped together with a video on Christmas eve, Peter Thulani he sings his heart out and talks about how he is asking the Lord for a kindhearted, loving and cultured girl as his bride.
“For the first time, my forthcoming album will bring out my other side as a songwriter and producer. I can write love songs and not just the club bangers,” said the 38-year-old musician.
In the song, Peter Thulani proves that he is a Shona wordsmith with his deep soothing lyrics and catchy chorus that reminds one of the late talented and legendary music prodigy, Fortune Muparutsa of the Wangu Ndega and Kure Kwaunoenda fame.
It has been a while since Mutare last produced a young gem that has risen up to the popularity of the late Fortune.
The late Fortune rose to fame in his early 20s and produced many chartbusters in the 1990s after going solo from the family group, the RUNN Family, when it split in 1989.
Fortune died in 2008 in the United Kingdom where he had relocated to.
At the time of his death, he was about to be signed by renowned American singer, Akon after he was impressed by his single, Dream Girl that was released that year.
The catchy chorus and soft melody in Mskana Akanaka resonates the powerful catchy choruses of the late Fortune’s music that always had depth.
Just like the late Fortune who penned an HIV and Aids awareness song in 1993, Kanda Matombo that encouraged the use of contraceptives during the height of the HIV and Aids scourge, the last project by Peter Thulani was a single released in May 2020, titled Please Heal The World during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said he felt inspired to pen a song of hope to encourage those who had lost loved ones to the global pandemic.
Kanda Matombo or Wangu Ndega as it was also known which was on the album Wheels of Fortune had hit songs like Kure Kwaunoenda and Simbarashe among others.
The album changed the face of urban music back then, which eventually became known as the urban grooves sound in the early 2000s.
“The last two years helped me channel so many emotions into my music especially my new album. My previous album was all about club bangers and party tracks, and there are still some heavy hitters that I produced this time as well, but my fans will get to see my vulnerable side that I thought would be ideal to share as this is also therapeutic for me as well,” said the Dallas, Texas-based artiste.
He added: “My first single, Mskana Akanaka which I dropped on December 24 will be followed by Uzere on February 13,2023. This will be a special Valentine’s Day dedication track. The singles have videos which were shot in South Africa by the amazingly talented director, Kyle White. The full album will be ready in July after the release of two more singles.”
Peter Thulani has also been writing and producing music for other artistes just like Fortune who started his own recording label and worked with several urban grooves artistes, making some hit songs that include, In my dreams by Innocent Utsiwegota, Ndinomhanya by Alexio Kawara and Come To Party by Major Playaz, just to mention a few.
“I love collaborating and producing music. This forthcoming album has got the most collaborations. Plenty of Zimbabwean artistes including my home boys from Mutare, artistes like Adrian Tate, Flexxo, MK47, Pastor G, Chelsea Mguni, FaRose, Tehn Diamond and Junior Brown are all featured on the tracks,” said Peter Thulani who started music commercially in 2010 and has so far released two albums under the Peter Thulani music brand.
In 2016, his track, Nhasi topped the video charts in the first month of release on the DStv Zambezi Magic channel on the Zim-Top 10 chart and that same year the video for his single, Clues in the stars, directed by the legendary Johannesburg-based music video director, Bruce Patterson also stole the limelight on DStv music channels.
“I plan to continue releasing quality videos. The video for my latest single, Mskana Akanaka is no exception. I flew to Johannesburg just to shoot these videos because I specifically wanted to work with Kyle. The final production is stellar,” he said.
