Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
MY STORY<br />
Lioness<br />
Afreeka<br />
Founder - Wimbi La Pwani<br />
My name is Hannah Wakesho<br />
Nyangala. Everybody knows<br />
me as Lioness Afreeka. I was<br />
born in Mombasa, Kenya. I live in<br />
Stockholm with my family. I am a<br />
mother of 2. I am a music artist,<br />
a talk-show host with The Kenya<br />
Diaspora Media, and the Europe<br />
Ambassador for the Talk comsapp<br />
which allows Kenyans abroad<br />
to call home at the best market<br />
rates. I am also a nominee for the<br />
MTM Award which will take place<br />
in London in November <strong>2022</strong>. My<br />
music can be found on all digital<br />
platforms.<br />
My music career was sown in my<br />
early childhood and propagated<br />
at high school. After Aga Khan<br />
Primary Mombasa I joined Star Of<br />
The Sea High School and Murray<br />
Girls High School. After high<br />
school, I worked with several<br />
local bands. Eventually, I worked<br />
with Tred Entertainers in Mombasa<br />
for almost 3 years before<br />
joining Senza Musica, a Nairobibased<br />
Zairean music band, as a<br />
dancer. My dream to sing turned<br />
into a reality when I joined the<br />
famous Big Matata Band as their<br />
female leadsinger. The group<br />
was managed by the Legendary<br />
Teddy Kalanda of Them Mushrooms.<br />
I performed with Matata Band<br />
during their Abu Dhabi tour. After<br />
our return to Kenya, in 2006 we<br />
toured Italy for a series of summer<br />
shows. At the time I was<br />
heavily pregnant. While still in Italy<br />
I gave birth to a baby girl.But a<br />
chain of sudden events later and<br />
I was stuck in a foreigncountrywithout<br />
a career and with a baby.<br />
In 2007 I was pregnant again. This<br />
time I saw tougher days. I even<br />
remember crying because of<br />
hunger. One day while 9 months<br />
pregnant with the second child I<br />
fell down a flight of stairs, almost<br />
taking my life and that of the<br />
baby.But thank God we both<br />
survived the fall although I broke<br />
my knee and I was on crutches<br />
for months. Eventually, I started<br />
working. In between jobs, I took<br />
Italian lessons. Soon I was a translator<br />
for the Italian Commission.<br />
Sometimes I had only 3 hours of<br />
sleep in between 3 jobs and my<br />
music. But as my name Lioness<br />
indicates, I huntdown every<br />
opportunity that belongs to me.<br />
In so doing I find the strength to<br />
carry on.<br />
After 14 years in Italy, we moved<br />
to Stockholm in the summer of<br />
2021. Little didwe know that<br />
major doors were about to open<br />
in Sweden. Today I host 3 online<br />
interactive shows under The<br />
Kenyan Diaspora Media platform.<br />
Wasanii Ughaibuniis streamed on<br />
Saturdays. I host 2 other separate<br />
programs on Mondays and<br />
Tuesdays, Nyota Ing’aayo Ughaibuni<br />
and Matunda Ya Ng’ambo,<br />
respectively.<br />
64<br />
5TH EDITION | JULY <strong>2022</strong>
Change language