THE BEAT MAKERS
SIMBA TAGZ
Is it us, or have you
noticed that there is a
certain name that seems
to continuously pop up
in most of our artists
interviews? Well, look
no further because we
managed to find out the
music scope of music
producer, Simba Tagz.
GM.: Simba you are quite
the popular guy in music
circles. Tell us about
yourself.
Simba: My name is
Simbarashe Tagwireyi but
Simba Tagz for short, people
just call me Tagz. I ’m a
music lover. No cars, sports,
or anything of the sort,
actually I have no real
hobbies. Basketball here and
there, but mostly I’m always
in the studio. My studio is at
my house. Most of the times
I don’t sleep.
GM.: So what is the name
of your recording studio
and what type of sounds
do you produce?
Simba: The studio has also an
operational record label, going
under the same name called
Showtime Africa. Under
Showtime we have three
producers, there is Reverb 7 who
does house music, myself and a
guy called Dutch. Dutch does hip
hop, R&B and a fusion of Afro
pop, Reverb 7 who does mainly
house, and pop and the like of
electro pop. I do whatever I feel
like producing. But mostly I
could say for myself, I do mostly
pop, and Afro fusion, that I’m
working on.
production, one of the songs was
done by Wizkid.
GM.: You have worked with
some big names in business.
Who are they and who do you
hope to work with in the
future?
GM.: What are the challenges
are faced by music producers in
Zimbabwe?
Simba: In Zimbabwe I’ve
produced quite a lot of people
including Tehn Diamond, Junior
Brown, 0-25, back in the day
Major Playaz, David Chifunyise
has been running away from me
for years now, (laughs), Ill Ceey,
the list is endless. In South Africa
I’ve worked with, Skwatta Kamp,
Feezy, like I did a whole project
with them, Golden Shovel,
Reason, Tumi, Zubz. Now I’m
starting to branch out, I've gotten
into specializing in mixing. I’ve
started to mix songs, like Zubz
album, and recently mixed for
Nigerian producers such as Sars,
so I handled most of their
Groove Magazine Zimbabwe
Internationally, I always think
Andre 3000, Pharell. Regionally,
well that’s hard, well depending
on what I’m trying to do, there is
this girl who won Idols last year,
Melissa Alyson, I like her tone of
voice, I would like to work with
her and maybe, Freshly ground.
Locally, we all work together.
There is no thinking, who would
I like to work with. We all make
a plan to work together. We are
all a family.
Simba: Looking at the food
chain, we are the most important
yet least valued. Due to the fact
that most people do not sell their
music much, they don’t invest in
music like for example, in
Nigeria, or even more in America,
an artists will pay like three
hundred thousand to someone
like Timbaland because they
know that they are getting a
good song. In Zimbabwe there
are no infrastructures for artists
to sell their music, it doesn’t
make sense for the artist to spend
a lot on music, so that’s one of
the many challenges. Also
Information, most producers
didn't know about, but are now
becoming aware of royalties,
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