The famous South African group comes to mind when the name Malaika is mentioned but a different Malaika is expected to headline the Celebrate Africa show in Lilongwe on Saturday.
Born Sheilla Mkhumba, Malaika is a Malawian born songstress and model based in the United Kingdom. A lawyer by profession, she does music for the love of it.
The Malawian goddess moved to Zimbabwe in the year 1996, where her late father had been sent by the Malawian government to represent the country as a consulate of the Malawi embassy. Having spent a good number of years in Zimbabwe, she considers herself partly a Zimbabwean.
In 2005, Malaika moved to the United Kingdom where she currently resides. It is in that country where her music career really came to light. Despite attaining a law degree in the UK in 2012, her love for music led her down a different path.
She started modelling while in Zimbabwe at the age of 15. Her modelling career got her recognition from prominent people in Zimbabwe’s entertainment industry.
She has met the president of Zimbabwe on three occasions, she was selected to welcome Malawian presidents at the Zimbabwe airport to pin flowers on their suit jackets.
According to information sourced from Adagio.com, Malaika registered her first business “Panash Entertainment,” a music entertainment company which would facilitate her development as a singer-songwriter.
In August 2015, Malaika teamed up with her sister Rames to start an organisation which looks after underprivileged children in Africa called angelsacrossafrica. The organization is behind the forthcoming Celebrate Africa concert which will hit Civo Stadium on 2nd March.
Malaika, Ammara Brown and Roki from Zimbabwe, and Zambia’s Oga Family are the event’s international headliners.
