Afro Jazz musician Selmor Mtukudzi appears to have mastered the skill of being innovative with her art to remain relevant in the cut-throat music industry.
The award-winning songstress, who is also an actress, is one of the four daughters of the late decorated international music superstar and national hero, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi.
With a career spanning about 10 years, Selmor has not only proved to be an outstanding singer in the Mtukudzi family, but also an artiste who is bent on growing her career.
To stay relevant, artistes must always find ways to connect with their fans.
During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, about two years ago when live shows were suspended as part of measures to curb the spread of the virus, Selmor launched a reality show dubbed What’s up with the Manatsas: Selmor and Tendai.
The outbreak of COVID-19 had brought with it fast-tracked digital changes on the showbiz scene that required an artiste to have a shift in mindset and approach the art as a business.
Selmor is among the many artistes who did not allow the idleness that was caused by the COVID-19-induced lockdown to distract their vision.
The What’s up with the Manatsas: Selmor and Tendai show, that featured Selmor’s husband Tendai Manatsa (the son of another late legendary yesteryear musician Zex Manatsa) and their children, was broadcast on her @Selmor Mtukudzi YouTube channel.
“Having been under lockdown for so long, we started getting ideas of what else we could do with our time and that is how it started. So yes, COVID-19 has somehow given us time to reflect and come up with ideas including starting this programme,” Selmor told NewsDay Life & Style.
“The reality show is about Tendai and myself, our kids, our lives. It (show) is also about our immediate and extended family, our challenges and our triumphs, among other things. It is just us sharing our lives with the world, with our main focus being people home here in Zimbabwe.”
Selmor added that the inspiration to diversify had also seen her directing and shooting two music videos for her husband, adding that she was now taking a keen interest in film.
In the latest development, Selmor has found home at Zimbabwe College of Music in Harare, a venue she will be using to stage her Friday Chill-out with Selmor live concerts.
She had a good performance last week and such an active engagement with the fans is paramount and this has to be a continuous process.
Selmor Mtukudzi Music’s manager Reginald Chapfunga said the Chill-out with Selmor concept was a response to requests by her fans for a regular venue where they play once or twice every month.
“This (Zimbabwe College of Music) is the new home we will chill-out on the last Fridays of the coming months,” Chapfunga said.
“In the next five months Selmor will be turning 40. The chill-out shows are part of a bigger programme we will be launching soon to celebrate the artiste’s life and mark the beginning of her life (Life begins at forty).”
As they say an apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, Selmor whenever she performs live, she makes it a point to do renditions of some of her father’s greatest hits.
Selmor rose to national stardom in 2013 after releasing her album Expressions which features the hit song Nguva Yangu that topped the charts and went on to be nominated for the country’s premiere arts awards, a National Arts Merit Awards.
To date, Selmor’s discography includes Shungu, I Am Woman, Ndangwara, Ndinewe (I am with You), Live, Expressions and Dehwe ReNzou.
Off stage, Selmor has invested in an online grocery shop which appears to be thriving if her comment that she took long to open the shop is anything to go by.
Source: NewsDay
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