Mozambique: Salimo Muhammad, renowned musician and singer, dies at 74

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Mozambique: Salimo Muhammad, renowned musician and singer, dies at 74

11:40 CAT | 08 Aug 2024

Image: Rádio Moçambique

Mozambican music is mourning the passing of Salimo Muhamad, one of its greatest names, who died on the evening of Wednesday the 7th of this month in Maputo Central Hospital, where he was admitted just over a week ago for lung cancer treatment.

His songs, which covered themes of love, social criticism and political activism, include Mamana Maria, Bilibiza, Xantima ibodlela, Magubane, Gungula nhautomi, Nguva, Sambrowera fandanga, Waitiva and others.

Muhammad will be cremated next Saturday, musician and Secretary General of the Mozambican Association of Authors, Jomalu, told Radio Mozambique.

Salimo Muhammad was born Domingos Simeão Mazuze Junior on August 13, 1948, in the city of Xai-xai, Gaza province, but stopped using that name in the early 1990s when he converted to Islam.

He showed an interest in music from a young age, but it was in the 1970s, while doing his military service in the Air Force in Portugal, that he met Portuguese singer José Cid and made his first recordings. Several albums followed.

Upon returning to Mozambique in 1974, he joined the artistic movement of the time. He initially performed with his brother Alexandre Mazuze, a collaboration cut short in 1977, when Salimo Muhammad was arrested and taken to Bilibiza re-education camp in Cabo Delgado.

Back in Maputo after his release in the 1980s, Muhammad formed the group Xigutsa Vuma with Pedro Langa and others. The band did not last long but left its mark on Mozambican music.

In addition to singing, Muhammad had a degree in decorative painting and was an actor, appearing in the feature film “Time of the Leopards”, a 1985 Mozambican-Yugoslav production.

Politically, Salimo Muhamad was a member of the Matola Municipal Assembly as a member of the MDM party.