Masha Mapenzi (born in

Watamu Watamu is a small town located approximately 105 km north of Mombasa and about 15 km south of Malindi on the Indian Ocean coast of Kenya. It lies on a small headland, between the Blue Lagoon and Watamu Bay. Its main economic activities ...

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

) is an

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

and

Afro-fusion Afro fusion (also spelled afrofusion or afro-fusion) is a dance and musical style that emerged between the 1970s and 2000s. In the same way as the dance style, the musical style invokes fusions of various regional and inter-continental music ...

singer. Mapenzi performs in styles such as chakacha,

taarab Taarab is a music genre popular in both Tanzania and Kenya. It has been influenced by the musical traditions of the African Great Lakes, North Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent. Taarab rose to prominence in 1928 with the adv ...

, bango and

afrobeat Afrobeat (also known as Afrofunk) is a West African music genre, fusing influences from Nigerian (such as Yoruba) and Ghanaian (such as highlife) music, with American funk, jazz, and soul influences. With a focus on chanted vocals, complex i ...

. She was the winner on the first season of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'' in Kenya, performing her own rendition of the famous hymn "When Peace, Like a River". Mapenzi's first album is titled ''Uhiko'' (available as an

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

download), and includes the single "Nainua Macho Yangu" as well as the tracks "Uhiko", "Mahabubu" and "Tamu Tamu". The Song "Uhiko" won Çoast Awards - Diaspora Artist of the year 2010 and Coast Awards - Runner up Female Artist of the Year 2010.

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mapenzi, Masha Living people 21st-century Kenyan women singers Year of birth missing (living people) Gospel singers People from Coast Province Kenyan gospel musicians