Theresa Ng'ambi

Theresa Ng'ambi is a multi-disciplined artist from Zambia. She is an award winner, conservationist, fashion designer, actress, model, acoustic guitarist, percussion player, storyteller, producer, composer and Afro traditional musician. She is a blend of traditional and modern sounds with preferences in traditional rythms, ancestry chants, percussion, jazz, blues and soul. Most of her singing is in native tongue to preserve African languages. She prides in expressing her voice in her mother tongues. She is a natural performer passionate to play live music and improvisation.

She was raised by a single mother and inspired by nature with influences of folk songs from her grandmother. Following her grandfather's footsteps a retired miner and a kalimba player, she developed interest in singing and writing ethno music at the age of five. The tragic events of losing her parents, brother and grandparents at a young age, Theresa decided to write a diary of her life through music.

In 2018 she won the Best Singer at the Zambia Women in Music Awards. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) presented Theresa Ng'ambi in their entertainment segment “Back to the Roots“ in which her songs were broadcast for a week with an intimate interview on BBC Africa. Ng'ambi has been featured on TEDx Lusaka in 2019 and 2023. There she sang her message on preservation and conservation inspired by a story tale of her grandmother titled “The Wise Goat“. This song brought Theresa together with musicians from Pakistan, America, France and Palestine, was reborn and is one of the winning songs of the 2025 APE eco-anthem competition.

She composed music for popular Zambian television series. Since 2020 she has increased to create music videos. “Bvulani“ and “Lelo Nilonge“ were released in 2021 with a very strong message on gender-based violence. In 2022 she collaborated with American dj poolboi. The song “Malo Okomo“ (Beautiful Place) is sung in Chichewa and English. The track was conceived as a journey of healing by Ng’ambi, written a time where she had a lot of pain from experiencing flashbacks of past tragedies. She visualized and affirmed a safe healthy earth. 

Theresa has shared stages with Zambian musicians of different styles like Mumba Yachi, Mathew Tembo, Clique Viral, T Low, Nez Long, Moses Sakala, Angela Nyirenda and with international artists like Hugh Masekela, Hope Masike, Siân Pottok, Oliver Mtukudzi and Sampa The Great.

She performed solo in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Congo and the US and worked with art spaces like Modzi Arts and Alliance Française in Lusaka and Nafasi in Dar es Salaam. In 2022 she performed at Marafiki Festival in Dar and at Institut Français Lubumbashi where she collaborated with the Congolese multi disciplined folk artist Willy Kanyange Ilumbo. In 2023 she had an AiR in Zanzibar and was part of Sauti za Busara Xtra. She collaborated with Jagari Chanda‘s legendary Zamrock band WITCH for the albums “Zango“(2023) and “Sogolo“(2025) and gained international recognition by touring the US, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Germany and Scandinavia with the band in 2023/24.