In Uganda, a white German aid worker becomes an unlikely local pop star

Photo: Spiegel


Photo: Spiegel

Student Deena Herr, 22, has recently become a very unlikely superstar in the African nation of Uganda. Above, her East African radio chart-topper, “Mumulete,” sung pretty much flawlessly in one of Uganda's native languages, the Bantu dialect known as Luganda.

via the artist's Facebook.


via the artist's Facebook.

After graduating college, she tells Der Spiegel, she worked for a year in an aid center for street children in Rwanda, then traveled all over East Africa. She ended up in Kampala, a city she says she “fell in love with instantly.”

One evening in a local Kampala bar, a friend who knew she had a good voice suggested she play something on the guitar and sing. She did. One thing led to another, and soon she had a local manager, a video in which she sings a ballad in a local language, and is celebrated on the radio and in local culture as a pop star.

The whole Spiegel interview is worth reading, whether you think this is the coolest thing ever or yet another episode of cultural appropriation.

Photo: Spiegel


Photo: Spiegel