Enter Birthday Boy Thucash with Usatambudzike an...

Enter Birthday Boy Thucash with Usatambudzike and Mudiwa Wemoyo

Gilbert Munetsi

As has become tradition annually over the past seven years, Thucash on Saturday, September 14, dropped two new songs to celebrate his birthday.

Usatambudzike and Mudiwa Wemoyo are the new additions to the Chitungwiza crooner's long discography and like many of his predecessing productions, touches on the theme of love.

The former track is packaged as an assurance message to a loved one who seems to habour doubts about her partner's commitment to her.

And the latter is a response that seeks to allay any fears, with the other party confirming his heart wholly belongs to his better half.

Thucash (real name Tinashe Thulani Chiwanza) reckons he has come of age since he set out on the musical journey back in September 2017 as a green horn.

Over the years, he has managed to rub shoulders with some of the best local artistes in the mould of Jah Prayzah, Roki and Tinashe Mutandwa, among others, and so celebrated has he now become that he can brag about a decent following and some financial reward from the craft.

"It has been an arduous road full of many challenges, but with determination and hard work, l am proud to say l have been able to navigate the stormy waters to make the moniker Thucash a household name.

"Chief among the challenges newcomers in the fraternity encounter is sponsorship which hardly comes by, particularly when one is still an unknown entity.

"It does not end there, but when someone with potential finally decides to take you on board, they do so with conditions.

"For instance they may tell you to change your music for their preferred genre, but that does not help bring out the originality and talent you possess.

"That is the very reason l opted to engage in a side hustle from which l get capital for self-sponsorship," he says as he retrospects on the infant days he set out to nitch his musical career.

Chiwanza seemed to have struck the right cord with the release of I need a Miracle, a religious track that speaks to belief in the deity and optimism expected to come out of such belief. Five years after release, the song keeps attracting good traffic on social media platforms one would think it was released yesterday.

Other prominent hits released by Thucash and his iTu Family ensemble include Ndaperera, Zvakakona and Ndibatsireiwo Kukanganwa which interrogates the subject of mental health, suicidal tendencies and the need for Godly intervention.

"Drug abuse is a problem that has gone overboard and one of the solutions to combat it is to continue preaching the gospel of abstenance.

"As musicians we have a critical role to help spread the word as we have the potential to reach out to multitudes.

"I am an abstenance ambassador who has been invited to many foras for this purpose although l also perform at corporate events, weddings and parties.i have also done a couple of soundtracks for local movie productions and brand Thucash keeps spreading far and wide," he says.

"It is the reception that l am getting from my fan base that spurs me on the most and with over 40 songs to my name since inception, l also have about 100 news tracks awaiting release.

"Unleashing the works however has to be done strategically such as having to give my followers a good treat on an important day like this (birthday).

"I don't have anyone that l can say l compete with because my genre, a combination of R 'n B and hip hop is not common locally. You could say that it's unique but l have opted for that fusion because as l belt out R 'n B tunes, l also tap into the market of the other genre, something many would find it difficult to do.

"The nearest example of an artist who does that internationally is Chris Brown and in Africa there are very few masters of this fusion game.

"For me it's a preferred genre in that it bears an international touch even though my lyrics are in my mother tongue," he adds.

Thucash bemoans a lack of airplay for his and contemporaries, a development that has compelled them to put more focus on social media where they have little or no limit.

"We have also realised that if done knowledgeably, you can monetise much better as there is less risk of piracy, copyright is ensured and you also forego such costs as having to buy CDs and do covers, et cetera," he adds.