Theresa Ng'ambi Official Website

Born 1983 in Tendere in Zambia, Theresa Ng'ambi is an Afro-traditional musician from Lusaka. She is a singer, songwriter, folk acoustic guitarist, percussion player and storyteller. Her music is a reservoir of language and oral education.

Growing up with a widowed mother and inspired by nature with influences from her grandmother‘s old folk songs, she followed in the footsteps of her grandfather, a retired miner and kalimba player, and developed her interest in singing and dancing at the age of five. She lost her parents, brother and grandparents at an early age. It was through these tragic events that she decided to write a diary and express her experiences through music.

She studied music and English at Evelyn Hone College in Lusaka. During this time she formed a student band that had a few commercial gigs at corporate events and National Commemoration functions for three years. Her passion for music made her audition for a spot to start her professional career and during this period, Chali Mulalami a producer, spotted her and signed her with Sling Beats Records. Her First single recorded was “Watembeleredwa“. Later, she entered a competition for live music called “The Music Crossroads“ which included young artist from East and Southern African countries. This competition nurtured her into loving African music on acoustic guitar and percussive instruments.

In Livingstone she recorded her first album of 10 songs under Passions Records called “Mandu“. It aired across radio stations in both Zambia and Zimbabwe. Theresa Ng´ambi won the Best Singer at the Zambia Women in Music Awards in 2018. Passionate with nature she wrote the campaign song “Samalilani“ on conservation and climate change. The song is recorded together with renowed Zambian artists like Maureen Lilanda, Pompi, James Sakala and the children from the orphanage in Kafue. Before Covid she has been touring through schools, orphanages and universities to raise awareness against tree cutting and animal poaching and has been Zambia‘s Bird Conservation Ambassador. In 2022 she wrote a song for UNICEF.

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) presented Theresa Ng´ambi in their entertainment segment “Back to the Roots“ in which her songs were broadcast for a week with an intimate interview on BBC Africa. Ng`ambi has been featured on TEDx Lusaka in 2023 and 2019 where she sung her message on preservation and conservation inspired from story tale of her grandmother titled “The Wise Goat“. She performed and composed music for the popular Zambian TV series “Ubuntu“ and “Mungoma“. Since 2020 she has increased to create music videos. “Bvulani“ and “Lelo Nilonge“ were released in 2021 with a very strong message on gender-based violence.

She has shared stages with Zambian musicians of different styles like Mumba Yachi, Mathew Tembo, Clique Viral, T Low, Nez Long, Moses Sakala, Angela Nyirenda and with international artists like Hugh Masekela, Hope Masike the mbira player, Oliver Mtukudzi, Sampa The Great and Siân Pottok the kora player. In 2022 she collaborated with American dj poolboi. The song “Malo Okomo“ (Beautiful Place) is sung in Chichewa and English. The track was conceived as a journey of healing by Ng’ambi, written in her lowest moments in a time where she had a lot of pain from experiencing flashbacks of past tragedies. She visualised and affirmed a safe healthy earth. The video is also a declaration of love and the beauty of Zambia.

She performed solo in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania and Congo and worked together with art spaces like Modzi Arts, Kalulu Kreativez and Alliance Française in Lusaka and Nafasi in Dar es Salaam. In 2022 she performed at Marafiki Festival in Dar and had a concert at Institut Français Lubumbashi where she collaborated with the Congolese multi disciplined folk artist Willy Kanyange Ilumbo. In 2023 she had an Artist in Residence in Zanzibar and was part of Sauti za Busara Xtra. She collaborated with Jagari Chanda‘s legendary Zamrock band WITCH for the album „Zango“ and is gaining international recognition by touring the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand with the band in 2023/24.