“It Would Have Been My Wish To Celebrate These 70 Years Of Life In My Country Of Birth” -Thomas Mapfumo

US based Zimbabwean music legend Thomas Mapfumo who hasn’t been home since 2008 recently celebrated his 70th birthday and his only wish was to have celebrated it at home back in Zimbabwe.

“It would have been my wish to celebrate these 70 years of life in my country of birth Zimbabwe reconnecting with our legion of fans we have starved of live performances for close to a decade”, he said.

The star hinted that he might come back to his home country soon, ” “My heart will forever be in Zimbabwe and I hope to return very soon,” said the legend.

He also addressed the issues facing the Zimbabwean youth saying, “We have to do much work to provide education and skills opportunities, especially for our youth and decent work opportunities. We still have a long way to go to create the society for which we have dedicated our lives of struggle.”

The legendary singer is at least happy he released some music for his fans, “I am happy that this year we did produce something for our fans, the album Danger Zone, which, however, was hit by piracy and we literally got nothing out of it.”

The outspoken singer also celebrated another milestone and achievement. A biography written by American ethnomusicologist and guitarist Banning Eyre. The book is titled Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe and was published by Duke University Press.

“I wish to send my profound gratitude to a comrade, brother Banning Eyre for documenting my musical journey in his book Lion Songs: Thomas Mapfumo and the Music That Made Zimbabwe. It took him many years to compile and at one point I had thought he had given up but he endured”, said Mukanya.