MTUKUDZI: Well, I'm glad to say that the song has served its purpose. This is a disease to which you've lost family members. That song is about the stigma attached to HIV and AIDS. It's a very different situation now than when you wrote that song. HEADLEE: If you're just joining us, I am in the studio with Zimbabwean legendary musician Oliver Mtukudzi for a special performance and for a chat. I mean, probably the song that you're most well-known for is "Todii." And when people think Tuku music, that's one of the first songs that comes to my mind. MTUKUDZI: Yes, because they can't place my music - they hear all these elements in the song, so they thought, oh, Tuku music. MTUKUDZI: According to me, Tuku music is African music born of Zimbabwe. But I wonder if you could tell us what that is. HEADLEE: You just mentioned Tuku music, that's - I mean, everybody knows Tuku music. And that's the reason why my fans loved the music, Tuku music, because of the way I played the guitar. HEADLEE: And I wondered if that was another reason why you stuck with acoustic - is that you also needed to use it as percussion. I mean, that's - very few guitarists get that. HEADLEE: I mean, I think one of the things that really distinguishes your guitar playing is that you have such an amazing command of using the guitar both as a melodic instrument and a percussive instrument. I love the sound 'cause it's closer to mbira sound, it sounds more traditional, more - what can I say, it's acoustic sound, it's not electric sound. Is this one of the reasons that you still play acoustic as opposed to an electric guitar? But you said, I realized our youngsters were thinking that these instruments were the worst and were looking down on them, so I did three albums playing all songs that way, on traditional instruments, to prove the point that our instruments aren't inferior and our young people shouldn't feel inferior either. HEADLEE: Well, since you've brought up instrumentation - you're famous for using things like thumb piano in your music and using it in pop music, and you're obviously one of the very founders of what we think of now as Afro Pop. That's all flavor to what you're talking about. And that's where the instrumentation comes in. Purpose of beauty is to attract you to the good thing. MTUKUDZI: There's always a purpose for beauty. You know, purpose of that is to give life and hope to the people. That's purpose of talent, purpose of art - any discipline of art. MTUKUDZI: Well, I think that's purpose of song. But why not? Why not have just a pretty song for pretty sake? Why does it always have to have something to say - a message? Frankly, I wish more American artists held by the same standard. HEADLEE: I've heard you say many times that where you come from you don't get to sing a song if you have nothing to say, that you need the message, and it's something you've obviously taken very seriously in your music. But you can't do that today, because the era of today, it needs more power. I remember we used to perform using a hundred watt amplifier in a stadium. So it compromised the sound but it was good for the era of that time. If you don't do it during the recording, you can't do anything better than that. Crowded around one mic and do a proper balance then. All the singers crowded around one mic, yeah. My first album we recorded in a 4-channel studio and we'd mix the drums in one channel and all other instruments in another. Of equipment and now things can be done much easier, you know. 'Cause the guitars I used then, in the '70s, '80s, and the equipment that we - of recording studios that we used then, there's a great change. The only difference that has come into my music that I've come to realize is quality. So each time I come up with a new song I try and experiment something new in it. It's more like experimental - I'm experimental. When we spoke, I asked him if his guitar playing has changed in all the decades that he's been performing. And his latest album, "Sarawoga," is his 61st. Tuku, as he's known to fans, will be 61 this year. We continue our performance chat with Zimbabwe and pop music legend Oliver Mtukudzi. I'm Celeste Headlee and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News.