Artist Profile - Dela

Dela’s love for music started at a young age when, while only 7 she was already singing in church. In primary and high school she continued singing and was an active member of the choir. She always wanted to be a recording artist so, after high school she formed a group and tried to work with other producers but it didn’t quite work out.

Late 2007 she met Andrew Mageto of JME studios and he produced for her the track ‘Nakuegemea’, which was subsequently released in March 2008. It was when she was working with Mageto that she became interested in live music and it’s also through him that she got her music into mainstream radio. In the University of Nairobi, where she is pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture, she met Dan “Chizi” Aceda (dubbed the crown prince of Afro Fusion). She decided to do background vocals for him in order to polish her performance skills.
Since then she has done background vocals for MAMA award winner Wahu , KORA Award winner Achieng Abura, KISIMA Award winner Didge, Stan, Wendy and many others. She has performed at various events like Tusker Project Fame, Idols, Sawa Sawa Festival, WAPI, Spoken Word and Love is…. both as a solo artist and as a background vocalist. During August and September of 2009 she has performed in the Netherlands, Sweden and UK as part of the New East African European tour organized by Penya Africa.

She has signed to Penya Africa through whom her debut album Paukwa is being released in November 2009. It will be a fusion of Afro, Neo-Soul, Reggae and Hip-Hop. The producers working with her on the album are Wawesh, Mageto and Sweden based Mastah L (Andreas).