#SPoTLIGHT
by Tafadzwa Gambiza
It is quite interesting to meet a young person who still values their cultural background, the following is a conversation we had some time ago with Tanaka Ects Chuma who is a young artist whose roots run deep in his culture.
Q:: Thank you very much for your time. Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do.
A:: Anytime thank you for contacting me, Tanaka Ects Chuma is an accomplished spoken word artist, musician with a purpose to inspire purpose with creativity.
Q:: We are in a time where we are fighting for our rights as a young people. Is any of our efforts being noticed?
A:: It is not something I can answer directly that we are being heard by the right people that are supposed to change what we are fighting for as young people but we are hearing each other and in high hopes with time our voices will make an impact to change the society we grew up in.
Q:: Poetry is an expressive art form, how are poets using the art form to speak about the rights of the young people?
A:: For someone to be a poet that you can listen to and follow, you’re supposed to tell your story nokuti kwatinobva kwakasiyana, we have different messages from different people.
Q:: The world abruptly shifted to a virtual way of life. Do you think we have the appropriate structures to sustain the young people in that space? If not what kind of structures should be put in place.
A:: Everything has shifted to virtual means and the structures we have at the moment are mainly meant to support those that have been visible before COVID-19 which led to such a change. I might not specifically know what other structures should be put in place because that goes deeper than just talking about structures only. We also need to talk about the structure of our NATIONAL ARTS COUNCIL thus if we talking about creativity and arts sector for young people,, zvisinei bundle rikupisa paghetto lol
Q:: Let’s talk about “CHOMUNZIRA FAMBA”. What lead to the creativity?
A:: CHOMUNZIRA FAMBA, is a young boy’s message who is saying never stop dreaming and never quit practicing being great, one day kana mangwana you will get it and it was a message to the parents to that if your child is interested in art then support him/her.
Q:: You have a unique sound. How best can you describe it?
A:: The best way I can describe the sound is I am always trying to be original, giving something new to the people because there is not other me in this industry….. being myself is the best advantage I have for my career to appealing to a lot of people.
Q:: From a creative perspective do you think Zimbabweans are creating a unique sound because at the moment it seems as if we are overshadowed by other countries?
A:: My perspective is that we have a few individuals creating a unique sound, some of the sound we have is not going to be international, those countries that are overshadowing us are original in their own way and the more we copy their sound the further we get away from the dream to be recognized the same way.
Q:: You have performed at many stages, how has been the journey so far?
A:: In as far as my journey is concerned God has been blessing ever since I started, thanks to those that believe me – they give me strength to move forward and never to look back, asi separwendo pane makata zvinodzimba dzimwe nguva asi ukacheuka kana kudzokera shure watozvitadzira.
Q:: Dr Oliver Mutukudzi was a Poet in his own way and he told the perfect story of Zimbabwe, he would always encourage young people to tell the Zimbabwe story. Today the young generation seems to be caught up with the Western world and we aren’t telling our story as it is. How has this impacted the industry?
A:: This has negatively impacted the industry because we tend to lack that original feel the likes of Tuku., Dembo and other greats we had back in the days, we are consuming by what is not ours – we have lost our culture as Zimbabweans.
Q:: As it stands does has poetry influenced the perspective that people have towards Zimbabwe?
A:: As I said, poetry is made up of stories from different poets from different backgrounds so if there are those that follow Zim poets outside Zim trust me they have heard too much chaos because we all have different feelings about our country now.
Q:: Any new projects that you are working on?
A:: Yeah, I just started writing my third album and I have a few unreleased singles set to be released before I finish the album.
Q:: I appreciate your time. Thank you. Any last words.
A:: Anytime Fam.
Do not compete with anyone, the only person you should compete with is who you were yesterday,working towards being a better version of yourself everyday and remember to be good; no one will ignore as time will tell. No one can copy talent, discover your purpose and watch yourself grow in line with that purpose.
#YouthCulture #YouthImpact #EaseUp #StayCreative #StaySafe