‘I am their voice now’: the Tanzanian rapper with a mission to spread pride in his own colour | Global development
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eevery day during the Ramadan school holidays, Idrissa Muhando and his friends would turn on their radio to listen to 20 Percent or Jose Chameleone, stars of bongo flava, a Tanzanian music genre influenced by hip-hop and R&B.
So his love of music, he says, “had its roots in that schoolyard” in Tanga, on Tanzania’s east coast, but it was singlesa style developed 125 miles away in Dar es Salaam that changed the course of his life.
“Boda boda [motorcycle] drivers played singles on loudspeakers. These new rhythms flooded our neighborhoods and I couldn’t help but fall into their webs,” he says.
Muhando – known as K-Zungu – is a Singel artist, the first in the country known to have albinism. “Zungu means ‘white’ in Swahili and K is the first letter of my grandfather Kaniki’s name. That’s why I chose that name,” he says.
Albinism, a hereditary condition which results in a lack of pigmentation in the skin, hair and eyes, affecting one in 1,400 Tanzanians, is linked to superstition. Some people believe in myths that the body parts of people with the disease can bring wealth or cure diseases, which has led to attacks and murders. This is what UN statistics show 75 people with albinism were killed in Tanzania between 2000 and 2016.
K-Zungu, 23, says he was lucky to have a supportive family and to experience the relative safety of a boarding school for children with albinism. “Going to school helped me gain confidence. I was scared, yes, but I wasn’t one to be bullied because of albinism. I always felt supported by my family and friends,” he says.
At 13, his parents agreed that he could leave school to follow “my lifelong dream of becoming a musician”. Until then, K-Zungu was addicted to the frenetic, up-tempo single developed in the 2000s by young female and male DJs on old computers and using cheap microphones.
K-Zungu, who is just finishing his first EP, is using his music to challenge the fears surrounding albinism. “When I’m on stage singing, I turn to families, urging them to let their children go out and socialize. I am the example that shows that we are capable of anything. Now I’m their voice, but I don’t want to be the only one.”
His song, Albino, describes someone who returns home to find a gang of boys threatening to cut off his hands and sell them. “We deserve peace and happiness. I’m proud of my color, that’s who I am,” he raps in the song, calling on the government to take action against those “who brutally attack and kill us.”
In September, he was auditioned by Abbas Jazza, managing director of Sisso Records and founder of talent agency Singeli Movement. “He is special; his power and lyrics are devastating,” says Jazza. “We had an open conversation [for artists] in Tanga, and when my team and I heard him, we knew immediately: it was him.
K-Zungu says, “That was the day my career took off.” In the past few months, he has been performing in Dar es Salaam and began a six-month artist residency at the Alliance Française, a cultural center supported by the French Embassy.
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His goal is to tour the world, gain recognition and achieve success like the singles artists Rehema Tajiri, MCZO and Siso who brought the genre to global audience at festivals in Africa, Asia and Europe.
K-Zungu remains aware of his mission. “I aim to nurture the albinism artist community. I want to create groups to find new talent… to boost their confidence, showing that like me, they too can succeed,” he says. “I feel like an ambassador for the rights of people with albinism.”
He says people now see beyond the color of his skin. “Today, people see an artist, not just a person with albinism.”
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