Denise Chaila is an Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime and hip hop artist based in

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

Career

Chaila began performing on the Limerick music scene in 2012. Chaila released her debut EP, ''Duel Citizenship'', in 2019. She had already featured on the 2016 Rusangano Family album, ''Let the Dead Bury the Dead'' and performs with them regularly.

Cillian Murphy Cillian Murphy (; born 25 May 1976) is an Irish actor. Originally the lead singer, guitarist, and lyricist of the rock band The Sons of Mr. Green Genes, he turned down a record deal in the late 1990s and began acting on stage and in short and ...

featured Chaila's music on his

BBC Radio 6 BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

show and interviewed her for ''Port'' magazine. She was one of the performers at the ''Perspectives: Imagining Ireland. Speaking Up, Singing Louder'' in National Concert Hall, Dublin on 9 February 2020. Her first album, ''Go Bravely'', was released on 2 October 2020. Chaila was one of the musical acts featured in the series of remote performances during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, '' Other Voices: Courage'', in May 2020. The one-hour performance was recorded in the

National Gallery of Ireland The National Gallery of Ireland ( ga, Gailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann) houses the national collection of Irish and European art. It is located in the centre of Dublin with one entrance on Merrion Square, beside Leinster House, and another on ...

. On 3 July 2021, Chaila was one of the headline acts to appear at a pilot music festival held in the grounds of the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, held to test how festivals might be run in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In April / May 2022, she opened for Ed Sheeran on his Irish dates of the Mathematics tour.

Personal life

Chaila was born at Chikankata-Mazabuka District,

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most cent ...

. Her family moved to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

when she was aged three, when her father, a doctor, was offered a position at a hospital in Dublin. The family later moved to

. She attended the Kings Hospital Secondary School in

Palmerstown Palmerstown (; officially Palmerston, see spelling) is a civil parish and suburb in western Dublin on the banks of the River Liffey. It forms part of the South Dublin local authority and the Dublin Mid-West parliamentary constituency. The area ...

and went on to study English literature and sociology at the

University of Limerick The University of Limerick (UL) ( ga, Ollscoil Luimnigh) is a Public university, public research university institution in Limerick, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Founded in 1972 as the National Institute for Higher Education, Limerick, it beca ...

Discography

* ''Duel Citizenship'' EP (2019) * ''Go Bravely'' LP (2020)

Awards and nominations

Choice Music Prize The Choice Music Prize (), known for sponsorship reasons as the RTÉ Choice Music Prize is an annual music prize awarded to the best album from a band or solo musician who is born in the Republic of Ireland or Northern Ireland or holds an Irish pa ...

References

External links

Denise Chaila
on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

*
Denise Chaila
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chaila, Denise Living people Alumni of the University of Limerick Black Irish people Irish women poets Irish women rappers Musicians from County Limerick People from Chikankata District Zambian emigrants to Ireland Zambian musicians Zambian rappers Year of birth missing (living people)