Shona Sculpture Inspires Quincy Jones's Album 'The Dude'

A Shona sculpture inspired Quincy Jones' album 'The Dude' which is being reissued as a limited edition vinyl.

"One day, Henry Mancini and I were at an art gallery on Wilshire Blvd., and I saw a sculpture that just called out to me. It said, 'Hey man, take me home. I want to be an album, I want to be a tune.' I didn't question it and bought the statue right then and there, because it had an attitude like I'd never seen before. It might sound crazy, but that's what inspired the name of my 1981 album, The Dude, and you can see the silhouette of the sculpture on the album cover!" Jones shares. "I also found out that the statue actually came from a farm in South Africa. The farm wasn't making any profits, so the owner had a sculpting teacher named Fanizani Akuda (a member of the sculptural movement called Shona Sculpture) come and teach his workers how to sculpt, so that they could make a living, and The Dude is one of the sculptures that Fanizani made at the farm! I've had The Dude ever since!! The album went on to be nominated for five Grammy Awards and win three!"

New Quincy Jones Shona Sculpture By David Mushonga

We were very honored to add a Shona Sculpture to Quincy Jones' collection. Greg Spero, pianist / composer and one of the most revered and in demand musicians in the jazz, jazz fusion, instrumental hip-hop and electronic music was inspired to send Quincy Jones a gift and choose the 'Thinking Man' created by David Mushonga from Zimbabwe.

The farm mentioned by Jones - the Tengenenge Arts Centre (Tengenenge loosely means the beginning of the beginning in the Shona language), is an art community founded by the late Tom Blomefield.

Tengenenge is located in the Guruve district in Zimbabwe, has achieved international recognition because of the number of renowned artists that have lived and worked there, and are still living and working there.

Works from the "first generation" of sculptors at Tengenenge joined those which had been created by others who worked at the National Gallery of Rhodesia, where the then director, Frank McEwen organized exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Bloomfield encouraged many individual artists from a number of countries including Angola, Malawi and Mozambique to join the local community of mainly Shona ethnicity and was unconcerned whether they had formal training.

And would you believe, David Mushonga is at Tengenenge?

David Mushonga's Art Is Internationally Acclaimed

The "Thinking Man" has the distinctive Mushonga style, sculptured in Serpentine stone, which once polished, gives it a rich, dark luster.

David was born in 1953 in Chiweshe Area, Centenary District, Zimbabwe. He completed standard six at St Alberts Mission school in 1967. David is a full-time artist and specializes in human forms and animals.

The unique facial features with big full lips, big nose, and eyes are a unique signature on all his pieces which he says depicts the spirit of Africa and all that is African, in wildlife as well as human beings.

He has sold his pieces to collectors in the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.

When you buy a Moyo piece, you are not just buying stone, but your own piece of history, a piece of modern contemporary art with an African flair. ~ Stef McDonald, owner of Artistic Africa Gallery

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