Owiyo to record with Mtukudzi, Chaka Chaka in SA

Afrofusion star Suzanna Owiyo will be jetting out to South Africa to record a song with Yvonne Chaka Chaka and Zimbabwe’s Oliver Mtukudzi. The music project is an initiative by Plan International for their new girl-child campaign dubbed Because I Am a Girl set to be launched soon.

Suzanna said, “The invitation to SA to record is courtesy of Princess of Africa Foundation founder Yvonne Chaka Chaka. I leave on July 2. It’s a great honour to work with two of Africa’s top music icons. There’s so much to learn from them. I look forward to working with my sister Yvonne whom I’ve admired for many years, more so for her humanitarian work.”

Suzanna met Yvonne in 2009 at Radio City Music Hall in New York during Nelson Mandela Day Concert. “My first encounter with Yvonne was during Mandela’s 91st birthday. I later met her in Jo’burg on a business trip and this year at the burial of our friend the late Mary Onyango, former vice chair of National Cohesion and Integration Commission. And we have kept in touch since,” Suzanna said.

Of Oliver, Suzanna said, “I consider Oliver a longtime friend. Last year he was my guest at My Roots album launch in Nairobi and I also performed with him in Kampala at the Serena at a charity event in aid of children suffering from cancer. I have also featured him in my latest album in the single Uyie." Because I am a Girl is Plan's campaign to fight gender inequality, promote girls' rights and lift millions of girls out of poverty. The global launch of the campaign is set for October 11, the first International Day of the Girl Child.