Khadja Nin

Khadja Nin (born June 27, 1959) is a Burundian singer and musician whose career took shape at a very early age around singing and performing: discovered as a child, she became one of the soloists in a choir in Bujumbura at the age of seven. After settling in Belgium in 1980, she turned her career professional and signed with BMG in 1985, before releasing her first albums in the early 1990s. Her repertoire blends East African rhythms and traditions with contemporary pop songwriting, carried by expressive performances and a focus on language. The album *Ya Pili* (1994) was critically acclaimed, and *Sambolera* (1996) marked her breakthrough: a multilingual record (Swahili, Kirundi, French) that established her artistic identity. Among its tracks, “Sina Mali, Sina Deni” stands out as an adaptation of Stevie Wonder’s “Free.” She engaged in numerous collaborations, including a duet on “Sailing” with Montserrat Caballé (1997), and performed on major stages, notably at Paris-Bercy in 2000 alongside Sting and Cheb Mami. Her career has thus been marked by album releases, artistic collaborations, and memorable performances, at the crossroads of cultures and sounds.