Tadiwanashe’s journey started in the very green and mountainous, Mutare, Zimbabwe back in 1996. The name means “we’ve been blessed by God” in the Shona language. Being the youngest of the three siblings meant he would soak up all the musical tastes of the family from the mother’s Gospel, father’s Dub, sister’s R’n’B & brother’s Hip Hop which would become very useful much later on in his open format DJ sets, influences and sample searches as the artist Tadi the Great. The name pays homage to the Shona tribe - of which he is a part - who built the Great Zimbabwe ruins in the late Iron Age and is often capitalised, an ode to the legendary MF DOOM who also had Zimbabwean lineage & British citizenship. Before his move to the UK, he was fascinated by the idea of making music and as soon as he got to the UK started sourcing software and low budget equipment to create his works. Tadi’s earliest musical endeavours involved him providing vocals for Tisoki-produced tracks then later on moving to independently creating his music. After years of trying to find his lane, he sought to explore djing as a means to improve his musical ear and production. During this period, he was making use of BBC Introducing, regularly used #TargetsNoticeBoard and tested his material at a show at the now-defunct Owl Sanctuary venue (not an actual owl sanctuary).

Skip a couple of years, and you’ll see Tadi playing DJ sets in Norwich as a member of various collectives namely Tropico which has taken him to festivals such as Gilles Peterson’s We Out Here Festival, opening for Zed Bias, Flowdan, Jammz & more. Tadi’s relationship with Boom Bap Festival saw him open up for GZA (Wu-Tang) and this was a strictly SP404 set as well as fly to the Netherlands to play at the festival’s Amsterdam Sessions. The year 2019 saw the birth of LowCUT, a show by Tadi on Keakie and despite being based in Norwich, Tadi still came down to record at the offices. From 2019, he held a weekly djing residency at Gonzo’s Tea Room and this was cut short in 2020 by the lockdown restrictions. Despite feeling frantic, Tadi decided to carry on trying to be productive and not overthink and that’s how he ended up with the release of Happy You Called, a beat tape, statement, E.P, a body of work. This received very positive reviews all around and brought back the confidence in releasing music again. Shortly after, Tadi was picked up to be part of Gilles Peterson & Brownwood Music’s Future Bubblers and through this, he has had the opportunity to have his music played on Worldwide FM & perform at the Jazz Cafe. For the Jazz Cafe performance, Tadi was rapping over his production, performing basslines on his Korg Monologue as well as triggering samples and effects via the SP404SX. In the same summer, he was part of No Signal’s first-ever cohort of NS Academy which saw Tadi explore radio-related duties including but not limited to curation, presenting and even a live mix. 
‘From Zamunda with Love’ is a self-released beat tape from Norwich-based artist Tadi the Great. The title is a reference to Eddie Murphy’s 1988 film ‘Coming to America’ which he credits as one of his favourite films of all time. Tadi initially set out to create a tape that sampled the film’s soundtrack but due to the scarcity of high-quality versions of the tracks the plan changed and he decided to sample tracks from all over Africa and create his version of a soundtrack whilst sampling bits of dialogue and other sounds from the film. This project was initiated in 2021 not long before being selected for Brownwood Recording’s Future Bubblers so it’s his check-in to showcase his growth as an artist & dj / crate-digger which is why the tape will see him explore and blur the lines between genres. Tadi has teased tracks from the project at his Jazz Cafe performance in July as well as Future Bubblers show on Worldwide FM. Tracks from the project are titled with a cultural reference to the country where the song sampled comes from e.g ‘No Dey Carry Last’ is a reference to the Nigerian/Pidgin phrase ‘Naija no dey carry last’ meaning Nigerians always strive to finish first. The concept of Zamunda in Tadi’s world isn’t tied to a specific place in Africa but more to a united continent and this is a sentiment he has seen from artists such as Fela Kuti & Hugh Masekela, both of whom have had a huge influence over the project. Project out on May 25th (aka Africa Day).