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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
RAPPER Cal Vin’s heart-warming tribute to the late national hero Dr Oliver Mtukudzi has thrown him into the limelight as the track is being given heavy rotation on local and national radio stations.

The song, titled Tuku Tribute released on Saturday last week, is one of the many tribute tracks to Dr Mtukudzi who died on Wednesday last week. After the announcement of Tuku’s death, Zimdancehall musicians led from the front with Jah Signal releasing the song Pasi Pano while Killer T released Mundireverere.

Sampling Tuku’s Todii and giving it a hip hop feel, Cal Vin’s track starts off with the chorus and the distinct guitar strings by Tuku before he comes in.

As the chorus tails off saying ‘What shall we do’, Cal Vin starts his first verse saying people should honour Tuku by “Putting our lighters in the air . . . to show a legend the respect” for what he did in the industry.

He goes on to to mention that Tuku was like an uncle and father to most musicians and that was why they were all grieving following his death.

Cal Vin acknowledged how Tuku through his music united all tribes in Zimbabwe saying “You were a symbol of unity, siyakuphakamisa.”

In the second verse he thanked Tuku for all the music that he gave fans saying his “66 albums were like a Bible, you blessed us.”

He goes on to say that Tuku’s music was pure and was filled with ubuntu and was famous all over the world.

“How can a man touch a heart and a soul and trend all around the world without a negative vibe on the song?”

The song ends with Cal Vin pretending as if he is speaking to Tuku through the telephone, with the rapper spelling out the words that Tuku left him with before the call cuts off at the end.

This song sums up how Cal Vin and many artistes feel following the death of Tuku.

In 2017 when Cal Vin dropped his love filled album Uthando, Oliver Mtukudzi shared a video of him playing the title track in his car.

Tuku on the Arthur C Evans show’s first episode, said there was nothing like an up-and-coming artiste and mentioned that he could not do what Cal Vin did.

“Personally I don’t believe in upcoming. There’s no such a thing as an upcoming artiste. I’ve been around for four decades and I don’t have what Cal Vin has. So what’s upcoming about him. There’s nothing like that. I can’t do what he does and he can’t do what I do,” said the late Tuku.