Most popular and internationally celebrated Zimbabwean musician Oliver Mtukudzi who died on Wednesday at a local clinic from diabetes was yesterday led to rest.

The renowned singer was buried in ceremony that befitted his status with most mourners singing and dancing to the tune of his numerous songs.

Mtukudzi ended a career that spanned four decades and 67 albums last week Wednesday amidst illness.

Numerous friends and lovers descended to his home town village of Matziva carrying posters of Mtukudzi’s photos printed on them.

President Emmerson Mnangagwa Thursday declared him a national hero, a status that has been a preserve for ruling party elites and independence veterans.

South Africa Jazz Musician Steve Dyer said on the side that Africa and the world at large has lost a great icon in the music world and adding that it’s a sad time but joy and solace must be found in the fact that his music lives on.

It’s on record that the legend’s music cut across generations and in his later years he produced duets with younger musicians, some of whom he nurtured at his arts centre in Norton, outside Harare.

He has produced songs with South African group Black Mambazo as well as Hugh Masekela, the trumpeter and singer known as the “father of South African jazz” who used his music in the fight against apartheid and died on the same day in 2018.