Tafadzwa “Maleather “ Mteswa was born on July 28, 1980 at Madondo Hotel in Gutu District, Zimbabwe. His father, the late Job Mteswa, was a member of the resident band at the hotel. His family was to later relocate to Chegutu, then Harare where his father went on to join Oliver Mtukudzi’s Black Spirits band, as the lead guitarist. At the age of five Tafadzwa was already exposed to the musical world as he would accompany his father and the Black Spirits band to different family shows at places like the Queens and Mushandira Pamwe hotels in Harare. At the age of eight he was already dabbling in drums, playing for a group called Black Duke. Due to the Black Spirits band’s schedules, Oliver arranged accommodation for the Mteswa family close to his own family home in the Highfield township of Harare. It was there in the early 90s that Tafadzwa met Tapiwa Mtukudzi, the son of the late Robert Mtukudzi – a keyboardist for the Black Spirits at the time – and Peter Mashasha Mujuru. The trio would gather old instruments from the band and practise in the Wendy house at the back of the Mtukudzi home. In 1997 Tafadzwa, Tapiwa and Bannet Kachale teamed up to become the regular curtain raisers for Oliver Mtukudzi and the Black Spirits at their Mushandira Pamwe Hotel shows. Oliver played a key role in nurturing and encouraging the young band to grow. Tafadzwa was nicknamed Maleather in the Zimbabwean music circles due to his love for leather products when on stage. He was later to adopt the name as his stage name with a slight modification to the spelling. Maleather became Malethar with the middle a dropped. In 2002 Tafadzwa assembled a band and went on to record a six-track album titled Nyarara. In the same year, he met Future Masanyenga who would become his song writer, manager and producer. In August 2003 Tafadzwa and Future founded Falls Records, started scouting for talent, organising shows, and making compositions and demo tapes. In May 2007 Tafadzwa went on to record an afro-jazz album titled African Embassy – one of his biggest projects so far – which was well received by the Zimbabwean market. In the same year he was invited to perform at the Winter Jazz Festival in Harare where he won rave press reviews for his show. There he shared the stage with South Africa’s Kunle Ayo and Zimbabwe greats like Oliver Mtukudzi, Kelly Rusike and Jazz Invitation, Mbare Trio and many others. In November 2007 Tafadzwa was nominated by the Zimbabwe Music Awards for the Best Jazz category. He went on to win the award in December of the same year. After the awards ceremony he was invited to perform at the Victoria Falls International Jazz Festival, where he won a standing ovation following a collaborative effort with the late Sam Mtukudzi (Oliver’s son). Following the meltdown in Zimbabwe, Tafadzwa relocated to South Africa in 2009 where he has already done a Mandela collaboration song with Spanish musician Rafiel Delapenia. Tafadzwa spends most of his time interacting with musicians from different places and features on acts at Melrose Arch, Jubilee and other circuit clubs in Johannesburg.
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:09:23 +0000
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