Producer — Songwriter — Music Director

Manuchie

The ears behind the choir and the crossover. Arranging Zimbabwe's biggest praise movement — and quietly making the records the rest of the continent ends up singing.

Manuchie in profile against a terracotta backdrop
Emmanuel “Manuchie” Chiwanga

Some producers chase a sound. Manuchie builds the room it lives in. He works at the seam where the sanctuary meets the street — equally at home counting in a forty-voice choir or shaping a groove that fills a dancefloor.

( 01 ) The Story
Manuchie on a Harare rooftop at golden hour with the city skyline behind him

A hometown ear with a
continental reach.

Emmanuel Chiwanga — Manuchie to anyone who's heard him count a band in — is the arranger and music director behind Zimpraise, the country's largest gospel movement. Off the stage, his hands are all over a generation of Zimbabwean records: the worship anthem that travelled, the Afrobeats crossover, the choir cut that made grown men cry.

His breakout with The Unveiled, “Mourning to Dancing”, carried a Shona hymn to people who'd never set foot in a Harare church. Since then he's executive-produced Gemma Griffiths' debut, cut records with Peruzzi, Nutty O and Takura, and traded ideas with Bethel Music and Jenn Johnson — mostly without leaving the producer's chair he prefers.

  • Based Harare, Zimbabwe
  • Rooms Gospel · Afrobeats · Worship · Pop
  • Role Producer · Writer · Music Director

The Manuchie effect

Sacred on Sunday.
On repeat by Monday.
( 02 ) On Record

Press play — then go add the rest.

A live pull of the catalogue, straight from Spotify. Full tracks on your platform of choice below.

( 03 ) In Good Company

People who've
handed him the aux

The Unveiled Gemma Griffiths Peruzzi Nutty O Takura Zimpraise Bethel Music Jenn Johnson Shona Prince Rudoson Universal Music Group
( 04 ) The Studio Is Open

Bring a voice note.
Leave with a record.

Four ways to work together. Tell me which one fits, and we'll take it from there.

Book a session

Sessions run from the Harare studio, with remote production and writing available worldwide.

  1. 01

    Production

    From a hummed idea to a finished master — arranged, played, tracked, mixed and mastered. Gospel, Afrobeats, or wherever the song wants to go.

  2. 02

    Songwriting

    Topline, melody and lyric — the translation between what you feel and what the record actually needs to say.

  3. 03

    Features & Collabs

    A verse, a hook, a co-production or a joint release. If it's honest, it's on the table.

  4. 04

    Music Direction

    Bands, choirs and stages — charts, rehearsals and the count-in — for services, tours, TV and live events.

( 05 ) Say Hello

Tell me what
you're making.

Studio time, a song, a feature or a full music-direction brief — send the details and I'll reply myself.