#KNOWYOURARTIST FRED FARAI

 

 

Written by Jive Zimbabwe

 

Popularly known as Finto/FFF, Fred Farai Nyakudanga was born on the 7th of February in 1974. Finto started his career through a friend and mentor, the late Kenny Neshamba who was once a percussionist in the Black Spirits band.

 

He started composing songs whenever he met or traveled with Neshamba. He later met Pitshou Lumiere of Diamond Musica who believed in his song writing skills. Lumiere recorded two of the songs Finto had written on Diamond Musica’s 2013 album.

 

Thereafter, Finto started his own project although the lead vocalist was Julius Julius. Finto was content with composing the songs as well as doing poetry for the band.

 

Finto was then encouraged to sing by a friend and that is when he recorded his first song ‘Basa rapera’ in 2015. He hasn't looked back since then and his interest in singing and in doing poetry has grown over the years. He has two albums to date, ‘Ngativimbike’ which was released in 2015 and ‘Simba rehove’ released in 2017.

 

Finto never believed he would get involved in the music industry. He holds a Diploma in Marketing and Public Relations and also a Diploma in Development studies which he attained from the African Leadership Institute. He is a marketing personnel who has worked with various organizations. He also ventured in development work through PSI Zimbabwe.

 

Naturally, Finto is very talkative and he says his life is centered on him being talkative. He is very observant and in observing, he comes up with songs. He admits sometimes he tends to probe a lot and sometimes he seems to be bothersome but he has gained a lot of knowledge through that.

 

He lives by the motto, ‘What you believe in is what you will eventually be. Music is successful if you know who to make it for and unsuccessful if you do it for yourself.’

 

Finto is a father of two, a young man aged 24 and a young woman aged 20.

His goals are to motivate communities into productivity through his messages and also to reach out to communities beyond the Zimbabwean borders especially within the region.