KISS RECOMMENDS: Ozlinkup Australia

Ozlinkup is bringing the first ever Zimbabwean Music Festival to Australia. This year’s event will be hosted by An International Social Icon, DJ Towers. Featuring the biggest DJ battle on the night of the 27th October 2017. We will have Australia’s Hottest DJS take to the decks to battle it out.

Featuring a stellar line up of world renowned artists performing on the 28th October 2017 including Oliver Mtukudzi, EX-Q, Celscius and Takura. Audiences will be able to discover the diversity of music and immerse themselves in a unique cultural and musical experience.

event 1 –  fri 27 October DJ BATTLE @ Jacksons Lounge Bar

event 2 – 28 October SATURDAY CONCERT @ Trak Live Lounge Bar, Toorak

info on Both events are https://www.facebook.com/ozlinkup/ & also here https://ozlinkup.org/

ARTIST 1 – OLIVER MTUKUDZI
Oliver Mtukudzi, also known as “Tuku” (short for Mtukudzi) is a singer-songwriter, actor, writer, film director and entrepreneur. With over 60 albums to his name, he is one of Zimbabwe’s top musicians and lead of the band The Black Spirits. His sings a music genre known as Afro-Jazz. Mtukudzi’s career spans decades, having started in 1975 when he did his debut single. Mtukudzi has his own music label ‘Tuku Music’ which is also the name of his apparel label. Mtukudzi was lead actor in the movies “Jit” and “Neria” released in the 90s. Mtukudzi wrote and directed the successful live musical production Was My Child. Mtukudzi is one of the few Zimbabweans whose music has international appeal.
Mtukudzi was born on the 22nd of September 1952 in Highfield, is the first born in a family of seven siblings. His parents both sang and actually met at a competition of church choirs. His parents continued to sing and compete amongst themselves (parents) and drew in Oliver and his siblings as the judges. This musical environment drew him to music. Mtukudzi developed a sense of social and economic responsibility early in life due to the premature death of his father. He has four sisters and one brother.
ARTIST 2 – EX-Q
EX-Q is an Urban Grooves artist who rose to fame in 2000 after releasing his hit song ‘Musalala’. From then onwards, EX-Q has been a force to reckon with, releasing singles and some of those singles include ‘Pandakakuona’, ‘Ndichakutevera’, ‘Mazirudo’ and ‘Tezvara varamba’. He has also done many collaborations with other Urban Grooves artists such as Roki, Tererai Mugwadi, Stunner and Extra Large.
EX-Q rose to stardom when he released his single, ‘Musalala’ which was also known as ‘Salad’ during the turn of the new millennium. From ‘Musalala’ EX-Q became one of the household names during the era when Urban Grooves as a genre was gaining popularity in the country. From ‘Musalala’, he went on to release, ‘Pandakakuona’ together with Shame and Nathan. Coincidentally, when Professor Jonathan Moyo was appointed to be the Minister of Information in 2000, he introduced a policy of promoting local music and EX-Q amongst other Zimbabwean musicians who were given precedence on radio and television stations in the country.
In 2005, EX-Q released his first album, Exquisite which had tracks such as ‘Mazirudo’, ‘Ndichakutevera’ amongst others. EX-Q claims that he relocated overseas to work on his second album, “Love is my Religion”. He collaborated with various artists and the most popular song from this album was “Pane Rudo” which featured Oliver Mtukudzi.
On 26 January, EX-Q hinted that he was working on his fifth album which was supposed to be released by the end of February 2015. In spite of this, two singles from the album were released in January 2015 entitled, The Way and Pore Pore. The album has since been released and is called Putiti, hence the nickname he has these days of Mr Putiti.
ARTIST 3 – FREEMAN
Freeman is one of the most established Zimdancehall Artists in Zimbabwe. The “Joina City” hitmaker rose to fame with a number of singles and albums which won the hearts of both the young and the old in theZimdancehall age in Zimbabwe.
Freeman’s real name is Energy Sylvester Chizanga. He was born on 22 June 1988.
At the age of 18 Freeman got a job at an abattoir as a butcher boy and it was during this period that he met friend and collaborator Nhubu Wemanuff who helped him record his first song which he admits did not do well. He then went on to record the song Ndokupa Rudo which many thought was a song by Trinta.
Freeman entered the music scene with his hit titled “Joina City” which made the chanter an overnight star. Ever since breaking into the limelight, Freeman has never looked back. He has also released other hits such as “Shaina mwana iwe” and “Doctor wemagitare”, “Handina godo” just to mention a few.
Freeman has performed overseas in the United Kingdom alongside other Zimbabwean artists such as Tocky Vibes and Nox Guni. He is also a member of the Dzivarasekwa based group of artists known as DangerZonegroup of artists and records with PunchLINE Entertainment. Freeman’s group is called HKD. His latest Album which was released in December 2014 is Varidzi VeZvinhu. He has done collaborations with other top Zimdancehall artists including Winky D, Shinsoman, Celscius, Lady Squanda and others.
ARTIST 4 – TAKURA
In late 2013, Takura formed the group Soul Afrika with his best friend Donald Mapholisa in Gweru. Mapholisa left the group when he got married. Takura moved to Harare and was joined by Adrian Tate who was Cynthia Mare’s guitar player.
After disbanding the group Soul Afrika to pursue solo projects, Takura released two songs “Zino Irema” and “MaObama” which made him into a household name. He released an EP in 2016 called Strips which has songs such as “Mungandidi”

OZLINKUP, WHO ARE WE?
Ozlinkup is a multicultural organisation that was launched in 2016. The Ozlinkup team consists of eight young Zimbabwean professionals who have a passion to promote multiculturalism, maintain social cohesion and build social capital through entertainment. We provide an opportunity for all people from all walks of life to participate in a celebration of cultural diversity and social inclusion, through music, dance, cultural performances and festivities. Our Ozlinkup Event is evolving into the biggest occasion on Melbourne’s event landscape, developing into the 2-day event, which allows people of all nations to congregate over one weekend for what is one of the biggest celebrations of cultural diversity across Australia. We bring the creative work of a new generation of multicultural artists into the spotlight and fully engage organisations and communities in the cultural diversity party, encompassed in our ‘ONE NATION ONE LINKUP’ mission statement.

OUR PURPOSE

We are committed to enhance cultural vibrancy and enable creative and social worth in multicultural communities in order to fuel artistic experiences that transform lives and communities.
We are also compelled to help young Zimbabweans in remote areas reach their potential through the development of local education. We work in partnership with headmasters and headteachers of local primary schools to respond to local needs and paying tuition fees for students who are in most need.