Espen Sørensen, known professionally as Mzungu Kichaa, is a Danish singer and musician. He was born in Denmark, but grew up in

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

, where his parents worked in the field of Development Cooperation. They went there when he was six years old. In Tanzania, he learned to speak Swahili fluently, and later on, he got involved in music and particularly in the production of

Bongo Flava Bongo Flava (or Bongoflava) is a nickname for Tanzanian music. The genre developed in the 1990s, mainly as a derivative of American hip hop and traditional Tanzanian styles such as taarab and dansi, with additional influences from reggae, R ...

at Bongo Records. The latest outcome of his interest in East African music is his first solo album "Tuko Pamoja".

Music career

In the late 1990s, Mzungu Kichaa was among the first artists that started recording at Bongo Records in

Dar Es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

, among them

Juma Nature Juma Nature a.k.a. Sir Nature (born ''Juma Kassim Ally'', in 1980) is a Tanzanian hip hop recording artist and record producer. He is the founder and member of a Temeke group called Wanaume, an informal group of rappers from the temeke side of ...

, TID, Mangwair, Ferooz and Professor Jay and Mwasiti. During that time, it was also when he got his artist's name Mzungu Kichaa, what can be translated by "Crazy white man".Mzungu Kichaa: Danish with love for African music
/ref> He didn't appear among the upcoming artists in Tanzania at that time, but did some choruses on several songs around 2001. Later on, he went to the UK to do his undergraduate studies in Music and Cultural Anthropology. After finishing his MA in African Studies, he stepped back to his music career, founding a group called Effigong in 2006. In 2008, he decided to continue as a solo artist and released his first record in 2009 on the independent label Caravan Records.Biography
/ref> The album was first released in East Africa, but after getting airplay on several European radio stations, it was also released in Europe in May 2009. The songs of the album, like "Jitolee" (featuring Professor Jay) or "Wajanja" are all in Swahili, the language mainly used in Tanzanian Bongo Flava. The lyrics of the songs focus on social problems in Tanzania, like poverty. Sørensen did a three-weeks promotion tour for his album in February 2009, mainly in Tanzania and Kenya, but he also performed in Denmark with the backing group ReCulture. The single ''Jitolee'' has been a hit in Tanzania and Kenya.Daily Nation, January 29, 2010
Bongo star’s latest single a big hit
/ref>

Discography

* ''Tuko Pamoja'' (2009)
* ''Hustle'' (EP, 2012) * ''Relax'' (EP, 2014) * ''Huyu Nani'' (Album, 2014)

References

External links

African HipHop

Mzungu Kichaa - MistariYetuKongoi
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kichaa, Mzungu Living people Danish male singers Tanzanian music 1980 births Swahili-language singers Tanzanian Bongo Flava musicians 21st-century Tanzanian male singers