Tshila: Sipping from the Nile
In the year 2007, The BBC World Service had a talent search called “The Next Big Thing” in which they named Tshila as one of the 20 best unsigned artists in the world. Her music was analysed by one of the judges as being “a perfect soundtrack to nice summer day. Delightful!” and another said this of her song, “Namboozo”, “The mix of traditional African sounds with poetry and hip-hop works perfectly for Tshila, Overall a conscious, upbeat vibe and the most original song in this competition”.
Tshila was born on the 10th June 1983 in Kampala Uganda. She never grew up surrounded by musicians, and neither did she ever have music on the curriculum at any of the schools she attended growing up. However, she ended up being one of the most noteworthy talents to come out of the East African market for a very long time.
Interestingly, she never had the chance to truly develop her musical talent until she finished her education in the United States, with a bachelor’s degree in Software Engineering in May, 2005. As a student, she always spoke for the African cause, and wanted to be a force of change in Africa, not through any government, but through the subtle and indirect influence of music.
Barely four months after graduating, she returned to Africa with the hope of developing her music and fusing it with the rich traditions of her people to create a sound that transcends cultural boundaries with enchanting rhythm and “conscious” lyrics. Having grown up with her mother, who used to sing folk songs for her when she was young, she was keenly interested in her mother’s ethnic culture and music from the Gisu tribe in Mbale. She picked up guitar, and began to sing and perform live in different venues in Kampala, collaborating with artists of all kinds. From opening for Jaqee(www.jaqee.com) on the first unplugged show in Kampala, to singing with Kinobe (www.kinobe.org), to performing with the Bataka Squad (leading underground hip-hop group in Uganda), and then later forming her own band, Tshila made a name for herself as a versatile musician.
It was not long before Alliance Francais in Kampala noticed the international potential in Tshila and started to include her in their performance programs. This included a performance in the ZIFF (Zanzibar International Film Festival) 2006 where only after 6 months of making music, Tshila performed with Kinobe and Soul Beat Africa at the festival. Her performances there generated a lot of talk in East Africa. In Tanzania, from the Zanzibar press (www.ziff.org) in Kenya (kenyamoto.com), who compared her to singing legend Tracy Chapman, and two full-pages of coverage in the New Vision, Uganda’s leading newspaper. She is currently in Vienna, Austria, where she is collaborating with various producers and musicians in order to expand the reach of African music and be one of the pioneers of the global movement for Africa’s recognition on the music scene.
Notable performances:
Zanzibar film festival 2006
Zanzibar film festival 2007
World music day Kampala 2006
World music day Kampala 2007
The Kampala Street Art festival 2007
Amakula film festival Kampala 2006
Amakula film festival Kampala 2007
For more information:
http://www.tshila.com
http://www.myspace.com/tshila1
Contact Tshila at:
Sarah Tshila
P. O. Box 31979
Kampala, Uganda
Telephone: 256-78-2744160
Email: tshilam@yahoo.com or contact@tshila.com
Manager’s Contact:
Paul Kavuma
P. O. Box 9023
Kampala, Uganda
Telephone: 256-71-2310635
Email: paul@tshila.com
| 
