Fortune Muparutsa is one of the most gifted musicians to come out of Zimbabwe and after his death, the void he left has not completely been covered. Though many other dexterous musicians and producers have come along, his flair is still in a class of its own.
However, the void might just be covered by his own nephew, Tapfumanashe Rujeko.
The South African based producer aka Manashe recently collaborated on a heavy track titled ‘Zunza’ which features prominent South African act, L’vovo Derango.
Zimbo Jam had a chat with the lad and he revealed more about himself and his career.
“I was born with the music in me,” said Manashe.
“I am the late great Fortune Muparutsa’s nephew and I grew up with him from the tender age of five till his passing on. My father abandoned us when we were young and my mother’s family raised us.
“It was my uncle, Fortune who took us in when my parents divorced. That’s how I got exposed to music as I was always with my uncle in studio,” he revealed.
Manashe added that as he grew older his uncle started treating him like his assistant producer.
But one would wonder why the name Manashe?
“The name came after I saw that a lot of the artists here in Mzansi were struggling to pronounce my full name and only remembered the last Manashe,” he explained.
Manashe said L’vovo heard one of his tracks from a colleague and he fell in love with his vibe.
Continued Manashe: “When I first got to Durban in 2013 I released a demo of my works which ended in the hands of a Durban based radio presenter called Archie Mamola, who was once manger of Big Nuzz.
“At first he did not believe I was the one who had produced the demo and he gave me a chance at his studio. After that one session at his studio he was highly impressed and he started spreading the word to his peers, who included L’vovo.
“L’vovo heard my works and asked if we could do a collabo that’s how we linked.”
Tapfumanashe is currently working on new material but will soon drop a track called ‘Ubolalela’ which features Mokoomba guitarist, Trust Samende and was mixed and mastered by the legendary Keith Farquhuarson.
