Mzungu Kichaa: Bridging cultures through music

A live music enthusiast would recognise Mzungu Kichaa's name immediately. The Danish singer-songwriter who found prominence in Tanzania is in Nairobi.

Real name Espen Sørensen, he has been celebrated for his dynamic, lively stage performances and his fusion of African music with Reggae, Pop and Rock. He released his third studio album, Fade Away, this March.

Mzungu Kichaa was born in Denmark but spent most of his life in Tanzania. After finishing high school in 2000, he moved to London to study Ethnomusicology.

There he met Tanzanian singer Kawele Mutimanwa, the late Remmy Ongala’s lead guitarist, and started playing on the Congolese music scene in East London as a rhythm guitarist. In 2005, he moved back to Denmark joined the rising Reggae scene, and founded Effigong as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. 

Spending most of his adult life in Tanzania, Mzungu Kichaa found a deep connection to the Pan-African sound of Congolese Rumba and Soukous.

He was given his stage name Mzungu Kichaa, Swahili for ‘crazy white man’, by Bongo Flava legend Juma Nature after they met at Bongo Records in the late 1990s.

It was only years later that he fully embraced his new name as a symbol of cultural guardianship, which carries complex socio-cultural significance. 

During his stint at Bongo Records, he played an instrumental role in influencing the sound of Bongo Flava through his deep knowledge of local traditional music and his skills as a guitarist and composer.

With a vocal and guitar feature on Solo Thang’s Mambo ya Pwani (Remix), one of East Africa’s Bongo Flava’s biggest songs, Mzungu Kichaa received wide airplay.

He is also recognised for his vocals on Juma Nature’s Hili Game and his signature guitar licks on Mangwaire’s She Gatta Gwan.

However, his involvement in these songs was not public knowledge until he officially embarked on his music career as Mzungu Kichaa in 2009 and started to gain media attention after releasing his first single Jitolee featuring Professor Jay and Mwasiti.

The same year, he released his debut album Tuko Pamoja, an album wholly in Swahili. It did well in Tanzania and Kenya, and also found a significant following in Europe and the US, especially among the African diaspora.

That project was his career’s guiding light and since then he has not looked back.

This year, Mzungu marked a 15-year milestone in the music industry which coincided with the release of his latest album, Fade Away. Mirroring his dynamic stage and acoustic performances, his new album embodies live instrumentation, adding an authentic layer to his music and love for a raw musical experience.

The album focuses on having a deeper connection with nature and the importance of being present, content and free from materialistic baggage. 

Mzungu Kichaa’s ongoing Kenyan media tour to promote the new album comes four years after his last trip to Nairobi.

“During this period of unrest in Kenya, my message to the youth is to stay positive, loyal to their visions and keep hold of their freedom of speech. The track Uhuru off my album is about the importance of this right and the most important line in the song is that without freedom, even the birds will not sing and by that, I mean the whistleblowers and changemakers within the society will not have a voice,” he says.  

Love, loss, gratitude, spiritual progression and the complexities of navigating life’s challenges are among the album’s themes, creating a multifaceted storyline and inviting listeners to reflect on their own experiences and aspirations.

Mzungu Kichaa delivers a powerful album with love songs such as Fade Away, Fall in Love and London Town, and political songs such as Uhuru, which touches on freedom of speech.

The exploration of mental health and the interpretation of how we navigate life's uncertainties adds a layer of introspection as seen in songs like Sleepy.

Fade Away champions the pursuit of dreams without compromising on freedom of expression. “It is important to be real and vulnerable and this album allowed me to free my inhibitions and the fear of sharing a true voice,” says Mzungu.

He adds, “I also released a few acoustic versions recorded late at night in one take using vocals and guitar with imperfections. It does not always need to be polished and decorated and I hope my listeners will appreciate this more raw sound.”