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Emmanuel Mayuka with Southampton in 2013 photo by Cergy95

Top 10 Most Famous Zambian People

In 1964, under the leadership of President Kenneth Kaunda, Zambia earned its independence from the United Kingdom. He belonged to the party of United National Independence (UNIP).

The former Northern Rhodesia is a country in south-central Africa that shares borders with Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

There are 73 different ethnic groups in Zambia, which is ethnically diverse like many other African nations.  Here are the Top 10 Most Famous Zambian People

1. Mutale Nalumango

Mutale Nalumango photo by ChaloNiZambia

Nalumango has been an educator and politician who is the 14th and the current president of Zambia. She is the second woman to hold the position. Mutale Nalumango  previously served as the vice president of the secondary schools’ Teachers union of Zambia. This was before resigning to begin her political career in 2001.

In 2001, Nalumango was elected to the National Assembly for the first time. As a representative of the Kaptula constituency in the multiparty democracy movement. Additionally, she worked in parliament as the deputy speaker and information minister.

2. Christopher Katongo

Katongo who born in 1982, is a Zambian former professional footballer. He played as a striker. Christopher amassed over 100 caps between 2003 and 2016 for the Zambian national team  at international levels. He has been an Africa cup of Nations winner and won the BBC’S African Footballer of the year award in 2012. His win had stated to have inspired most of the young players in Zambia

3. Samuel Matete

Field athlete photo by Braden Collum

Matete who is a retired male track and field athlete from Zambia was born in 1968. He competed mainly in 400 meters hurdles. Samuel has been known his exceptionally fast finish. He was one of the world’s leading hurdles in the early 1990s. His personal best of 47.10 seconds, achieved during the Weltklasse Zürich in 1991. It  is the current African record and ranks seventh on the all-time list.

Samuel Matete became the first Zambian track and field world champion in 1991. It was the first  time that an African athlete had won the event. He represented Zambia in the 400 m hurdles on four occasions (1988 to 2000). And was the silver medalist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

4. Emmanuel Mayuka

Emmanuel Mayuka with Southampton in 2013 photo by Cergy95

 Mayuka has been a Zambian professional footballer who plays as a striker for NAPSA stars and the Zambia National team. He was the top scorer in 2012 Africa Cup of Nations tournament.

Emmanuel belonged to the group of under-20s from 2007, along with Fwayo Tembo, Clifford Mulenga, Sebastian Mwansa, William Njovu, Stoppila Sunzu, Joseph Zimba, Rogers Kola, Jacob Banda, Nyambe Mulenga, and Dennis Banda. In addition to being the only student on the team, he was the youngest player in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup.

5.  Denise  Chaila

Chaila has been an Irish and Zambian rapper, singer, poet, grime and hip hop artist based in Limerick. She began performing on the Limerick music scene in 2012. Denise released her debut EP, duel citizenship in 2019. She had already featured on the 2016 Rusangano family album.

Also in  2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Chaila was one among the musical performers that took part in the series of online performances called Other Voices: Courage.  The National Gallery of Ireland recorded the performance, which lasted an hour.

Chaila was one of the featured performers at a pilot music festival hosted on the grounds of the Royal Hospital in Kilmainham in 2021 . The festival was organized to see how it would operate after the COVID-19 epidemic. She served as Ed Sheeran’s opening act in  2022 for the Irish leg of his Mathematics tour.

6. Barbra Banda 

Female Boxer photo by Zachary Kadolph

Banda who  was born in 2000 is a Zambian amateur boxer and footballer. She plays as a forward for Chinese club Shanghai Shengii and the Zambia’s Women’s national team. Barbra captains the Zambia Women’s national football team.

In her debut season she scored 18goals in 13 league matches to emerge as the 2020 Chinese Women’s Super League top scorer. Banda has represented the Zambia Women’s national under 17 football team in the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women’s World cup. She was the first female player in Olympics history to score back-to-back hat tricks and the first to score tow hat tricks in one tournament.

7. Jay Rox

Jay began his career as part of an award-winning hip-hop group called Zone Fam. After the group’s final breakup in 2013, the rapper resumed his solo career, which he had started before the group. His first project after the breakup was the 2015 album Outside The Rox, which included songs like “Joanna,” “Auto Pilot,” “Not For Sello,” and others.

He released Lusaka in 2017, a tribute to Zambia’s capital. Songs like “Glory,” “Best Father Alive,” and “Camera Ready” can be found on the CD. In 2018, his most recent record, named “Outside The Rox 2,” was made available. And also a collaboration with Kenyan vocalist Victoria Kimani is featured on the CD.

8. El Mukuka

Dj and producer equipments photo by Matt Moloney

El Mukuka, is a Greek-Zambian DJ and producer who has been  credited for being Zambia’s leader in the EDM/house music genre. A graduate of the Berklee College of Music, he released his first single, ‘Heart,’ in 2013.

After that, in 2015, he issued an album. El Mukuka’s music is described as “uplifting, blended with African characteristics, rich in melody & harmony, and funky” on his Facebook profile. Various festivals in Zanzibar, Zimbabwe, and Zambia have included El Mukuka’s music. His most recent song is titled “All I Need.”

9. Lukwesa Burak

Burak, who was born in Zambia in 1974, experienced a few unique moments as a child. She was born into a largely comfortable environment, but when she was eight years old, her family moved to England.

Lukwesa was enlisted in the Royal Airforce to pursue her ambition of flying, but after suffering leg injuries during a football game, her aspirations were dashed. She pursued her other ambition of being on television by training as a journalist and has since worked for BBC News, Al Jazeera, and Sky News.

10. Roberto

Songwriter photo by Soundtrap

Roberto  who is an Afro-R’n’B singer-songwriter, has played a significant role in Zambia’s music business for more than ten years. His rapping brother Ozzy served as an inspiration for him to pursue music. ‘Amarulah,’ one of Roberto’s well-known songs, was broadcast on radio stations from Ethiopia to Mauritius.