Lydia Achieng Abura (died 20 October 2016) was a Kenyan singer who performed

Afro-jazz African jazz may refer to: * Le Grand Kallé et l'African Jazz, a Congolese band often referred to as "African Jazz" * A style of music also known as Ethio-jazz, exemplified by Mulatu Astatke * South African jazz South African jazz is the jazz of S ...

Afro-fusion Afrobeats (not to be confused with Afrobeat or Afroswing), or Afro-pop or Afro-fusion (or Afropop or Afrofusion), is an umbrella term to describe popular music from West Africa and the diaspora that initially developed in Nigeria, Ghana, and ...

, and

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

Life

Achieng Abura was born in

Eldoret Eldoret is a principal town in the Rift Valley region of Kenya and serves as the capital of Uasin Gishu County. The town was referred to by white settlers as Farm 64, 64 and colloquially by locals as 'Sisibo'. As per the 2019 Kenya Population ...

and held an MSc. degree in Philosophy and Environmental studies. She had one child, a son named Prince. She had love for music,a great orator and took music professionally, debuting with a gospel album called ''I Believe'' around 1990 followed albums were ''Way Over Yonder'' and ''Sulwe''. In 2002, when she had shifted to Afro-jazz, she released the album ''Maisha''. Kenyan musician Abbi was formerly Abura's backing vocalist before he became a prominent solo artist.Italian Cultural Institute in Nairob
Abbi & Kikwetu in concert
Later Abura released the album ''Spirit Of a Warrior''. In 2007,she released her last album titled Dhahabu yangu by the Blu Zebra label, and owned by

Tedd Josiah Tedd Josiah (born 1970) is a music producer from Kenya. He started as a musician, first briefly with the group Ebony Affair before forming a new group, Hart, in 1993. Early life The group was disbanded in 1995 and Josiah joined ''Sync Sound Stud ...

Career

She was the voice of

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from ''

Tinga Tinga Tales ''Tinga Tinga Tales'' is a British flash animation, flash animated children's television series based on African folk tales and aimed at 4 to 6-year-olds. It was commissioned by the BBC for its CBeebies channel, and by Disney Channel for its D ...

''. She was a

UNDP The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

Goodwill ambassador. and toured abroad, for example in Spain. As a member of the ''Divas of The Nile''

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

that featured four Kenyan female musicians Suzzana Owiyo,

Mercy Myra Mercy Myra Grundberg, better known as Mercy Myra, is an R&B musician from Kenya. Biography In 1996, she joined the ''Calabash Band'' but left it the next year to join the R&B group ''Destinee'' and in 1997 she joined a band called ''Black Ice''. ...

, and Princess Jully that performed at the

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Tilburg Tilburg () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, in the southern province of North Brabant. With a population of 222,601 (1 July 2021), it is the second-largest city or municipality in North Brabant after Eindhoven and the seventh-larg ...

, Netherlands in 2007. In 2008, she acted as a principal of the East African

Project Fame ''Project Fame'' was a pan-African version of the international talent/reality show ''Star Academy''. Held in Johannesburg, South Africa from June to August 2004, the show had 16 African contestants – 9 of which were South African – groomed ...

(TPF).Tusker Project Fame 2008
and also campaigned for the

Global Call to Action Against Poverty The Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP) is a network of over 11,000 civil society organisations (CSOs) organized in about 58 National Coalitions and in constituency groups of women, youth and socially-excluded people, among others. I ...

. Abura died on 20 October 2016 after a short illness at

Kenyatta National Hospital The Kenyatta National Hospital is the oldest hospital in Kenya. It is a public, tertiary, referral hospital for the Ministry of Health. It is also the teaching hospital of the University of Nairobi College of Health Sciences. It is the 2nd l ...

Awards

Abura won the

Kora Award The KORA All Africa Music Awards are music awards given annually for musical achievement in sub-Saharan Africa. The awards were founded in 1994 by Benin born businessman, Ernest Adjovi, after a discussion in Namibia with the country's President H ...

in 2004 for Best East African Female; the award was shared with Tsedenia Gebremarkos of Ethiopia. She was nominated for the social responsibility category at the 2008

Kisima Music Awards The Kisima Music Awards is an annual awards program that recognises musical talent in East Africa. Despite being Kenyan-based the scheme awards artists from a variety of countries, predominantly Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, and incorporates a ran ...

. She was among the

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n artistes sponsored by the

Alliance Française An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

in Nairobi.Daily Nation, Weekend Magazine, October 30, 2008
A new Kenyan sound on the way
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Legacy

Before she died Abura had set up an on-line fund for her son, Prince, who had a heart condition and sickle-cell anaemia. In the week following her death the fund grew considerably and a son was offered an educational scholarship.
Tuko, Retrieved 27 October 2016 Prince Abura later passed on 10 May 2021 at the time he was a student at

Riara University Riara University is a Private University located along Mbagathi Way in Nairobi, Kenya. Location The university's main campus is just next to Nyayo Highrise Estate in Kibera, Nairobi County, a fifteen minutes drive from Nairobi Central Busin ...

and was set to have graduated in September of the same year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Abura, Achieng 2016 deaths 20th-century Kenyan women singers 20th-century births 21st-century Kenyan women singers