Christine Kamau is a Kenyan Trumpeter, Composer and Performing Artist. Her trumpet playing has been described as ‘a wide-eared approach to jazz, paying attention to various styles without losing the jazz tonality’. Kamau credits her musical influences to Hugh Masekela, Miles Davis, Roy
Hargrove, African Jazz Pioneers among others.
Upon exhibiting signs of musicanship at a young age, she began playing piano at age 9. Known for her distinctive sound and dynamic trumpet performances, her compositions fuse jazz with East African music elements of benga, chakacka and rhumba.
Since her 2012 debut afro-jazz album ‘This is for
You’ which was featured on the BBC music program ‘Africa beats’ showcasing emerging music talent from Africa, Christine Kamau has gone on to gain international recognition for her work and is widely considered a trailblazer in African jazz. A keen collaborator and campaigner for music as a tool for propagating unity, she has performed in festivals across Africa and Europe and featured on significal music industry platforms like jazzahead! festival, UNESCO Jazz Women in Africa and New York Festival of New Trumpet Music.
Her music career extends to cultural diplomacy and social change as she is the founder of ‘Women In Music Concert Series’, a live-music event held in Nairobi that seeks to promote female musicians by providing a platforms for them to showcase their stage performance skills.
