Nashil Pichen

Nashil Pichen Kazembe (1932–1991) was a Zambian singer from Kaputa District in the Luapula Valley,

Nashil Pichen ended his career as a solo artist after moving from Kenya to Lusaka. His big hit "A-Phiri Anabwera" was the first single to sell more than 50,000 units in Zambia. It was a song about Mr Phiri, a long-lost migrant worker who returns home from the city empty-handed, only to find that no one in his village remembers him. Pichen had earlier scored a string of hits with his Super Mazembe band singing in Zambian, Congolese and Kenyan. He worked with Mazembe as a producer and manager in Zambia, but he also came to have his own successful career as a solo artist in Kenya. It was in Kenya that he developed his style of combining Zambian traditional music with Congolese, Kenyan and Southern African urban rhythms like soukous, benga music and kwela. He returned to Zambia in the 1980s and recorded further albums there, and he was also very popular in Zimbabwe.

Kazembe died in 1991. Although he had a successful music career, at the time of his death he was a very poor man. He is survived by his daughter, Hadija Nawezi Pichen.

Discography Studio albums and compilations A Phiri Anabwera Hot Hits Of Nashil Pichen Kazembe Nashil Pichen Kazembe & Super Mazembe

Selected singles & EPs "Munyadiranji" "Usaone Kumanga Thayo Pts 1 & 2" "Mwazima Nyale / Shanty Compound" "Kabolala Wa Chikondi" "Mungeli Ufwaya / Babili – Babili"

As a contributing artist Before Benga Vol. Two: The Nairobi Sound (1993)