Celebrating Our Music | Artist profile James Banda (@JemahBoogie) | Bulela Podcast

Celebrating Our Music | Artist profile James Banda (@JemahBoogie) | Bulela Podcast by In'utu J. Mubanga

Name: James Banda

Stage Name: Jemah Boogie

Short Bio: He was born on September 24, 1983 in Lusaka. His interest for music developed when he was in Grade Seven but only started writing songs when he was in Grade Eight. He grew up listening and miming to songs done by local music artists such as Paul Ngozi, PK Chishala, Lucky Dube, Brenda Fassie, Jambo, Bilia Bell, Boyz II Men, Baby Face, Brandy, Sam Cooke, Bobby Womack, Ray Charles and James Brown.

Before venturing into music, Jemah Boogie was an active football player under the supervision of Coach Happy Sichikolo at Lusaka Youth Academy. 

He opted to give up football and pursue his educational goals and subsequently graduated with an Advanced Diploma in Computer Science and Information Processing from Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Science in 2006 and he's currently a holder of a Certificate in Materials Testing (Civil Engineering) from the Construction Council of Zambia. Jemah Boogie started trailing his music career in 2008 on the Copper belt at a record label called Blazer, where he recorded his first two singles, ‘’Nimu zanga chabe’’ and ‘’Baby tika.’’

He then joined Danger Zone and recorded his follow up single ‘’Niku mvela mushe’’ featuring Chingola’s finest diva, B Nell and also co-wrote Baska Baska's song " Sembe baby wanga which featured Macky 2(Flava Boy). Surprisingly, the RNB/Pop singer did not stay long at that studio because of personal reasons. He moved on and got a spot at VS studios in Kitwe and recorded a single called “Fiancee” which went on to get some Radio airplay (SPINS) and performed it twice on Y-Zone TV Show on ZNBC.

Jemah Boogie has toured and performed with Dandy Krazy when he was promoting his debut song “I love you Mommy”.  He has performed along side the likes of B1, Ty2, Baska Baska, Afunika, Zone Fam, Dandy Krazy, General Ozzy, Mampi and B Flow then later on moved to Livingstone for a Job. Whilst in Livingstone, he got signed up by Raising Sounds, which was the only studio in town by and released two singles, ‘’Leave me” featuring Slap Dee and ‘’Okondewa’’.  

Jemah Boogie realised that there is no place like home, he bounced back to Lusaka and managed to get a spot at K-Amy Studios, which is owned by KB -Killa Beats. It did not take long for him to start collaborating with renowned Zambian Artists such as Tyce on a track called “More than a boyfriend’’ and ‘’Vibe ni chizungu’’ featuring Starn–DaIndustry.

From the way things are moving, it looks like the young man has officially settled at K-Amy Studios for now, where he has released an album titled "Love Pleasure and Pain which is available for sale on an online store called mvesesani.com and has also just released a single called "Desire Pon Fire" available on iTunes, Spotify and AMAZON MUSIC after 4 years of Silence. He is currently in the studio recording.

Follow Jemah Boogie on Twitter HERE.

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