Dear Mukudzei ‘Jah Prayzah’ Mukombe

AS I write this letter to you, I hear you are in Kenya where you are collaborating once again with Mozambican star Mr Bow in the Coke Studio.
You are an award-winning musician.
Your impressive ambition has driven you far and wide, venturing into the region in search of collaborations that you intend to use to propel your career forward.
You have gained national stardom and now you seek regional and international recognition.
Collaborations do indeed give an artiste a massive boost.
International superstar Dr Oliver ‘Tuku’ Mtukudzi, through collaborations with fellow musicians in the region and overseas, managed to grow his brand and gain fans across the world.
Tuku has had collaborations with regional and foreign artistes who include American Taj Mahal, Toumani Diabaté of Mali, Kenya’s Baaba Mal, South Africa’s Busiswa Gqulu, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Judith Sephuma and Ringo Madlingozi, as well as Cesaria Evora Phinda and Mahube, Jaziel Brothers, Siphokazi, Maureen Lilanda, JK, Afro Tenors and Eric Wainana in the southern African region.
He went on to release an album Abi’angu: Duets of My Time where he featured a number of these artistes.
For Tuku, the collaborations paid off.
When he did his duets with Eric Wainaina, he went on to hold shows in Kenya for instance.
He went on to play in Senegal with Baaba Maal after they had done a collaboration.
Tuku has had resounding success in the countries of musicians he has collaborated with.
Shows in these countries have drawn record crowds.
My question is: Ko nhai ‘Musoja’ (Jah Prayzah), when are we going to see the fruits of your collaborations?
When are we going to see you hold shows in these countries.
Musicians you have collaborated with have already performed in the country and been well received.
The collabos you did with them introduced the artistes to our locals.
When you did your collaborations with Botswana’s Magdeline Lesolebe, better known as Charma Girl, and then with Jepther McClymont, aka Luciano, we thought we would see you hold shows as far as Jamaica.
You have had successful collaborations with Diamond Platnumz of Tanzania, Mafikizolo of South Africa and now we hear you plan to collaborate with Nigeria’s Davido.
As much as people believe that by doing collaborations you are penetrating a new market, are you really penetrating new markets?
Without a shadow of doubt, regional and international collaborations gain you exposure, but are you utilising these opportunities?
When you did the ‘Watora Mari’ collaboration with Diamond Platnumz, people went crazy and YouTube views skyrocketed. Currently you have over five million views.
But Musoja, don’t be fooled by YouTube numbers.
Those numbers are based on IP address counts, meaning if I view your video on my phone, computer and then ipad, its counted as three views.
Don’t get me wrong Jah Prayzah.
People like your music, but is this a true reflection of your fans?
Why don’t you go and perform in Tanzania and see how much you are really loved there?
The population of Tanzania, for example, stands at over 53 million. Imagine performing there; these people might already know you from your collaboration with their star Diamond Platinumz.
As things stand, you seem not to have attracted the fanbase of the musicians who you have collaborated with.
Instead, you have grown their fan base.
What you have been basically doing is promoting their music to your fans.
Throughout the years, we’ve seen many South African artistes reach out to Nigerians through collaborating with the West African artistes.
South Africans have made follow-ups by visiting Nigeria after collaborating with the best in the West African country.
Their musical collaborations have not only produced chart-topping hits, but live shows in both SA and Nigeria have been sold-out affairs.
Take a leaf from South African artistes, for example, who benefitted from collaborating with AB Crazy on ‘Emmy Gee’ and so did Nasty’s who featured Davido on ‘Rands and Nairas’ while the profile of AKA grew tremendously after doing ‘All Eyez on Me’ and ‘Baddest’ with Burna Boy.
All the artistes in these collaborations made follow-ups in the countries of the artistes they worked with.
Simply put, if you do a collaboration with Davido, then you should also have a show in Nigeria while your collaboration is still sizzling hot.
Collaborations are meant to open up regional and international platforms so that when you grace them, you are not a stranger, they will know you.
Don’t do collaborations for us, isu tiri vemudanga.
You are on the right path, but make your collaborations count — do not waste them.
Go and perform abroad and make new fans.
Collaborations just give you 15-minutes-of-fame, but engaging fans in live performances will gain you a place in their hearts for life.
Go yonder and conquer!

Yours truly
Tapiwa Nyati