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Oliver Mtukudzi
Photograph via Wikimedia Commons
Music Distinguished

Oliver Mtukudzi

1952 – 2019

Tuku — Zimbabwe's most loved musician

Distinguished is level 3 of 4 in the Zimbabwe Hall of Fame: sustained excellence over a career, widely honoured at home. See how the levels work.

Why they are here

Over five decades he built a sound of his own out of Zimbabwean traditional music, and used the standing it gave him for human rights work and for UNICEF.

Born in September 1952, Mtukudzi — known everywhere as Tuku — blended traditional Zimbabwean music with other genres into a style so distinct it took his name. He was also a businessman, philanthropist, human rights advocate and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for southern Africa.

He died at the Avenues Clinic in Harare in January 2019, aged 66, after a long illness.
Sources

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