1. II Post Lifestyle, Sunday August 16, 2015
By Hope Mkunte
K
ATONGO Temba has
been named one of the
20 most successful
Zambian women in the
UK, and her record speaks for itself.
As a model she has graced sev-
eral magazines, appeared in beauty
pageants and featured in TV
advertisements.
But it is her singing career, which
began when she was just 11, that
tops her many accomplishments.
She moved to the UK when she was
10, and when her father bought
Mariah Carey’s ground-breaking
‘Butterfly’ album, she could not
stop listening to it.
“I could not believe someone
could sing that well,” she says of the
album that, along with the music of
Brandy and
Monica, inspired her to start writ-
ing her own music. At 16, she
picked up a guitar, further enhanc-
ing her budding career.
By the time she went to univer-
sity where she studied international
relations, she had already made up
her mind that she wanted to do
music full-time, much to the dismay
of her parents.
“They were totally against it,”
she says, “It was very hard for me
to convince them. They said ‘no, no,
you are going to the university and
get a degree’ which I did but I had
to go back to the music because
that’s what I have always wanted to
do. But I hope that one time in the
future I will use my international
relations degree. I would love to be
an ambassador for young women
and children because I also have a
passion for helping and inspiring
people,” she says.
While at university, she joined a
band called Dynasty as a lead
singer, a move that would prove
very helpful to her career.
“The experience gave me confi-
dence as an artiste. There was no
pressure so we could be creative.
From there
I started approaching producers
and started doing backup vocals for
artists and writing music,” she says.
In 2012, she got signed to UK
publishing house Speegra Music as
a songwriter.
But despite her first major deal,
Katongo kept writing music for her-
self and her song ‘Make A Change’
would end up winning in a song
contest in 2014.
She also took part in the You
Generation, an online music talent
search where Simon Cowell, as one
of the judges, spoke highly of her
talent. In 2013, she released her
debut EP ‘My Way’ to much fan-
fare; the music video for ‘Tonight’
peaked at number 17 ahead of
bonafide artistes Neyo and David
Guetta on Oljo, the Germany Video
Chart show.
The song itself enjoyed a fair
share of airplay on Shoreditch
Radio in England, Nigeria’s Beat
FM and Flava FM in Zambia.
A chance online encounter with
Ayo an A&R for J Martins Don
Family label led to her being signed
as a performer.
“An A&R from J Martin’s label
was following me on Twitter so
when he heard my music he told J
Martins about me and J followed me
on twitter and we started talking and
he told me ‘you are very talented we
would love to work with you’it just
developed from there. But I thank
God for social media, otherwise I
would never have been in commu-
nication with them,” she says.
But it wasn’t until she collabo-
rated with JK on her single Joy that
Katongo’s career took off.
She had always wanted to work
with JK, so when her mentor J
Martins signed her to his label, he
made it happen for her.
“J Martins told me ‘go back to
your home country and establish a
fanbase there’. He got in touch with
JK’s people here in Zambia and
that’s how the song materialisd,”
she says.
Her song ‘Joy’ is making the
rounds on Zambian radio and its
music video is showing on ZNBC
TV.
The song peaked on number
seven on Naija FM and is being
played on QFM, Flava and Hot FM.
“I didn’t think that the song
would do so well in other countries,
it took me by surprise. I am glad it’s
getting so much support because I
kind of struggled when recording it
because I had to get the accent right
since I have been away from home
for so long and it was my first vernacular song,”
she says.
While in the country before Easter, she
recorded ‘Another Day’ at Digital X, a catchy
love song whose music video is coming out this
month.
Describing her songwriting style, she says; “I
find that I write best when I am going through
something. When I’m in love it’s a love song and
if I am depressed I will write a wonderful sad
song so I have to feel the emotion when I write.
Nowadays because of the need to churn out
music I just write, it’s almost like auto pilot now.
When I finally start working on my album, I
hope to retreat so that I can get my emotions
together,” she says.
Although Katongo acknowledges that the
Zambian music industry has grown, she says
there is huge difference from the industry in the
UK.
“People here are a lot more relaxed, there is
no urgency, but in the UK everything is dictated
by time, you’ve got deadlines and you are
always churning out new music because the
industry there changes so quickly. Also there is
a lot of competition because the industry is huge
so you are always on your A game,” she ays.
Katongo also doubles as a model but she
downplays her role in fashion despite having the
looks.
“My main job is music, I do fashion part-time.
I don’t like taking pictures, but I do the
modelling because I get good money. There
is nothing that I love about being a model,
being in videos, in magazines and fashion
shoots, I do it because I get paid. I do it
because I can do and I make some money
from it, that’s it. If I didn’t do music, I
wouldn’t say ‘I want be a model’it’s not
my passion,” she says.
But despite modelling not being her
forte, it has helped her follow her other
passion, that of helping children and
speaking for the underprivileged.
In 2010, she took part in the Miss
African Spirit beauty pageant where she
came out second after which she was
aligned with the charity Africans United
Against Child Abuse (AFRUCA).
Part of her role was to speak at the
House of Commons where she highlighted
the plight of children in Africa.
The charity experience led her to form
Pamoja, a non-governmental organisation
she founded with her sister to help com-
bat abuse against women and children
in Zambia.
“Pamoja is still in its infancy, but we
really want to help, especially here in
Zambia because if you read the papers you
see all these abuse stories and we want to
do something,” says Katongo.
Katongo Roses
Katongo outdoor