Abby Chams plans to capture hearts of South Africans with new EP

Tanzania-born musician Abby Chams is growing her footprint in SA with her sound, which she describes as a “concoction of everything”.

The teenage sensation, whose real name is Abigail Chamungwana, is a multi-instrumentalist who plans to capture the hearts of South Africans with her new EP titled Abigail, which features rapper and singer Blxckie.

“Being in the studio with Blxckie was so effortlessly authentic… I have always been a fan of his music, he is such a talented singer and writer. Having him on my project was such an honour,” she said.

“We recorded our song Easy in the studio last year and I had to hold on to it till this year so that it’s a part of my latest offering. I think people are going to love what Blxckie and I did on the song.    

“My sound is a mixture of Afrobeats, RnB and bongo flava.”  

The singer first stepped into the music industry five years ago at the age of 13. In the past three years, she has won multiple awards whether is in playing the violin, guitar, piano or drums.

“I come from a very musical family. My grandfather was a musical conductor, he had a piano that I’d often practise on. I started learning to play the piano when I was five years old and then when I was eight years old I learnt to play the violin… the guitar and drums I learnt when I was nine,” she says.   

“I’ve always wanted to be a singer since I was very young. My parents often told me that when I was younger than five years, I used to line my dolls up as if they were my audience and I’d sing for them using a hairbrush or a whisk from the kitchen – that in itself proved that performer in me.”

As one of Tanzania’s youngest stars, spreading her wings to SA has always been one of her lifelong goals.

“Seeing that I was mainly based in Tanzania and East Africa and people from there know my sound, expanding my territory in this country is an aspect I want to explore,” said the 18-year-old.

“I believe people in SA will resonate and relate with my sound even more – like my RnB sound and Afrobeats, the market this side is more open to my sound than back home.”   

Chamungwana is also the founder of a programme called Teen Talks which is a platform for the youth of Tanzania used to discuss issues faced within their communities. In 2020, she was appointed as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (Unicef) youth advocate for mental health and gender-based violence (GBV).

“I’ve always been passionate about raising awareness on mental health issues and how important it is to have discussions around this topic based on what is going on back home – the same applies to GBV," she said.

“Unicef reached out two years ago asking me to be the voice for the youth and I jumped at the opportunity because I knew how great my influence would be.”

Chamungwana has also been a guest on the popular American programme The Kelly Clarkson Show – a moment that motivated her to keep pursuing her music ambitions.

“When I first heard that Kelly’s team would like to have me on their show, I actually thought it was a scam but when I was physically there on set that’s when I realised that all of it was real and true. I had a blast being on the show… one of the greatest experiences I’ve ever lived.”