Suzzana Owiyo

Suzanna (Suzzana) Owíyo is a Kenyan musician. A singer-songwriter, Owíyo has been called "the Tracy Chapman of Africa".

Owíyo was born in Kasaye village, Nyakach, near the lakeside city of Kisumu. Suzanna Owíyo was introduced to music at a young age by her grandfather who was a prolific Nyatiti player.

In high school, she helped her school to win many trophies during the provincial and national music festivals. After high school in 1998, she joined a Nairobi based singer Sally Oyugi as a backup vocalist. Two years later she parted ways with Sally to team up with a local band in Nairobi; Bora Bora sound and later went back to sing in Kisumu. It was here that a young business entrepreneur with a keen ear for music spotted her talent and offered her, her first guitar. She then went back to Nairobi and undertook music lessons at the Kenya Conservatoire of Music whilst continuing to sing at a club in Karen.

It was while preparations were being made for the centennial celebrations of the city of Kisumu, that Suzanna was requested to compose a theme song for the opening ceremony. In front of a capacity crowd of 60,000 people “Kisumu 100” was born and immediate success followed; a prolonged applause and a standing ovation.

Suzanna then decided to work on an album with Kenyan music producer Tedd Josiah. The album, which received great success on the radio, won her a nomination in the Kora Awards 2002 in the “Most Promising Female Artist category”. The same album won her a Kisima Awards for the Most Promising Female Artist of 2003. Her new single “Sandore” and the video clip with a powerful message on child labour was also a success.

Numerous concerts in Kenya and abroad followed thereafter. In June 2003, she represented her country at the Kenyan Festival in Paris organized by Alliance Française, in August the same year she represented East Africa at the Pan-African music Festival in Brazzaville where she sang alongside Youssou N’dour, Koffi Olomide and Rebecca Malope among other African greats and in December she performed in Djibouti.

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