Chimwemwe Chihana, also known by her married name Chimwemwe Chihana Mtawali, is a Zambian photographer known as Qcheda. She is also a

Digital Media In mass communication, digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operates in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital content can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, an ...

Specialist, and has written and performed

Afro-pop African popular music (also styled Afropop, Afro-pop, Afro pop or African pop) can be defined as any African music, regardless of genre, that uses Western pop musical instruments, such as the guitar, piano, trumpet, etc.Olabode, O. (2023, J ...

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

and

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots reggae, roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2 ...

songs under her stage name Wacheda.

Early and personal life

The youngest of five children, Chihana-Mtawali was born on 13 May 1991 to Dudwa Wellington Chihana and Irene Ngwengwe-Chihana in

Lusaka Lusaka ( ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Zambia. It is one of the fastest-developing cities in southern Africa. Lusaka is in the southern part of the central plateau at an elevation of about . , the city's population was abo ...

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH). Her parents lived in

Kabwe Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province and the Kabwe District, with a population estimated at 288,598 at the 2022 census. Named Broken Hill until 1966, it was founded when lead and zinc deposits were discovered in 1902. Kabwe also ...

but, shortly after her first birthday, Wacheda's father died. She then moved with her mother to Livingstone in Southern Zambia where she lived her formative years. She is married to entrepreneur Masuzgo William Mtawali. They have a five-year-old daughter.

Career and education

Chihana-Mtawali completed her secondary school education at Hillcrest Technical High School in 2008 where she went to school with fellow songbirds

Kantu Kantu or k'antu is an ancient style of music and circle dance which is widespread since incaic or even preincaic epoch on the Peruvian and Bolivian highlands. Modern versions of this style still use the Quechua or Aymara language and the siku ...

and Judy Yo and then relocated to Lusaka to study accounting at Zambia Centre for Accountancy Studies. She has worked in the corporate and insurance sector including Multichoice Zambia alongside being assistant director at Graphic404. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Mass Communication and Public Relations at Cavendish University, Zambia in 2020.

Music

Chihana-Mtawali started singing and songwriting during her school days, and came in to the Zambian spotlight with her song "Iron Man" which features Zambian rapper, Cactus Agony. The video consecutively reached number one on the Zed Top 10 chart on Zambezi Magic DStv for eight weeks. Wacheda went on to win the 2017 CBC TV Viewers Choice Award for

RnB RNB may refer to: * Nankai Broadcasting (''R''adio ''N''ankai ''B''roadcasting), a broadcasting station in Ehime Prefecture, Japan * Russian National Library * RNB Global University, in Bikaner, Rajasthan, India * "RNB" (song), a song by Young Dol ...

video. Shortly after "Iron Man," her single "Maliyo" hit the music scene with a red carpet event video launch at

's Diamonds Casino. Later in 2017, she released a music video for her single "No More" which features industry DJ Cosmo and Mic Burner. Other figures to make cameo appearances in the "No More" video included DJ Hussein and Hot FM's Lungowe Simbotwe. Wacheda ended 2017 collaborating with Zone Fam's Jay Rox on "Um Yeah" for which she released a lyric video teaser in January 2018. Other songs released by Wacheda are "Oyu Moye," "Swagger Lover," "Only You" and "Yamu Film".

References

{{authority control 21st-century Zambian women singers 1991 births Living people People from Lusaka