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| Music legend Oliver Mtukudzi and late son Sam Mtukudzi |
Written By The Sunday Mail.
Music Giant, Oliver “Tuku” Mtukudzi says he is feeling the pain of loneliness as he remembers his son, Sam, who passed away five years ago.
“When you lose one child you need more love and care to compensate. It does not eliminate the pain but it helps. Vazukuru ne vakuwasha – they say we are the reason for you to be alive, but all the same I get lonely. The kids are grown and gone – you have to beg them sometimes kuti chimbouyai kumba and so forth but yes, they are a comfort when they are around,” Tuku told The Sunday Mail in an interview.
The celebrated artiste says although he misses his son – he has a way of dealing with his loss – a way of shielding himself from forever brooding about the death of Sam.
“My therapy is being on stage. When I’m on stage I feel that he is there with me, on my left side, because that is where he always stood when we performed together. That therapy helps me a lot, it heals me, it helps me carry on because I feel that I have not lost him, that he is still with me,” said Tuku.
The “Ronga Dondo” singer says he has also found solace in helping other young people with their music careers as it was a project which was closest to his son’s heart.
“I do not compensate my son’s loss by helping people, no. Taiita izvozvo zvekubatsira vanhu tese. Sam was the pioneer here at Pakare Paye, he taught most young people and I’m just carrying on with the project.
“I understand young people’s problems because I faced them as a young man, a young musician. When they come here asking for help, I know where they are coming from. Some of them may want to do the collaborations for the wrong reasons but because they humble themselves, I have to respect that knowing that I have an opportunity to teach them something.
Today, the Mtukudzi family gathers to take some flowers to Sam’s grave – where they will share memories of the good and bad times they had with Sam.
“We try to remember the happy times, zvinhu zvaitinakidza ne zvaiti bhowa. At the end of the day – he is gone. But it’s always fresh everyday – the image we saw of him when we arrived from South Africa is still fresh in our mind. We pass through the accident scene two to three times a day and we are like ndopakaperera mwana apa. “But we have to learn to live with it – hazvigadzirike, hazviite zvidhara (we can’t fix this and the memories do not fade).”
“We had our plans, for instance, I would say I’m 60 and he is 21 so he is going to take over, but no one knows how long we have the people in our lives even though we wish it could be forever. When the kid is gone, like mine; that is when you feel it.”
Tuku, who says he would rather be buried at his rural home in Dande, says he buried Sam in Harare because that is where most of his friends, fans and family are.
“It was the easiest thing to do, both for us and his friends.”
Sam died together with his friend, Owen Chimhare, in a tragic accident along the Harare-Bulawayo road in the early hours of March 15, 2010. They were driving from Harare to their home in Norton.
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