The Sunday News
Rumbidzai Mbewe, Sunday Life Correspondent
BEING born by a musical legend comes with a lot of expectations from people. Comparison will be the order of the day for you as humans forget that people are not crafted in the same manner.
However, with Selmor Mtukudzi, the story is different. She is one strong lady who admires the work that her father has done but has chosen to live life the way she wants and make music that soothes her heart and not necessarily ride on her father’s success.
In an interview, Selmor said she was not trying to fill anyone’s shoes because she has her own life to live. She said instead of trying to fill her father’s shoes, she was going to continue the legacy that her father, Oliver Mtukudzi built.
“I have told myself that I will not focus on the pressure that people come with. I live my life the way I want and make music that I like and it’s been great so far because people seem to be appreciating that. I am not trying to fill in any shoes. I have my own heels to walk in. What I will not stop doing is continuing my father’s legacy . . . he worked too hard for it,” she said.
Selmor and her husband recently launched their albums, hers being titled I am a Woman. The album is named after a song on the album.
“My husband and I launched albums at the same time. We are therefore asking the audience to decide whose album is better than the other. I named my album — I am a woman — because I am a woman and celebrating the life of every woman in this country,” said Selmor.
She pointed out that female artistes were beginning to receive attention in the music industry compared to previous years. Selmor said there was still gender discrimination but that was not an excuse that women could use for not working hard.
“I think as a society we are moving more and more in that direction of uplifting women though we are actually not there yet. We don’t have as many opportunities as our male colleagues but we should be given credit for all the efforts we put in our work despite those challenges. I would like to thank promoters like Mama Red Rose who has actually believed in women and has done shows with female artistes only. We need more promoters to do the same,” she said.
Last year she worked with some of Africa’s top female artistes in rallying a cry for women’s empowerment through a song called Strong Girl. She said working with different characters taught her what and what not to do.
“It was great working with women from other countries. It gave me insight on what’s really important in this industry and how to keep it,” she said.
Besides her music, Selmor is an actress in the making. She recently finished filming in a movie which is set to be released in October called Escape.
“I am very excited about the movie. As a child I started out as an actor before I got into music so I am really excited to see how the movie came out and if I did a great job,” she said.
