Real name Barbara Kanam Mutund, Barbara Kanam was born on September 27, 1979 in Bukavu, Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo), into a family of 12 children. After completing her schooling in Kinshasa and Kolwezi, she moved to South Africa to study economics, before obtaining a degree in international business in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire). In 1999, she released her first album, Mokili, produced by Kone Dodo, which earned her a nomination for a Kora Award. Her second opus, Téti, came out five years later in 2004, enabling her to raise her profile beyond Africa and tour as far afield as Europe. In 2006, she contributed to the album Droit Chemin by Fally Ipupa, who had himself recorded a duet with her entitled "Noir & Blanc" , and enjoyed further success the same year with "Bibi Madeleine L'Argent". A third album, entitled Karibu ("Welcome" in Swahili), was released in 2009, and was in turn a success, thanks to singles such as "Dada", "Djarabi " and "Cheri Mupenzi". In the years that followed, Barbara Kunam released many more titles, including "Zawadi" in 2015, "Bouger" in 2019, "Flèche" in 2020, "Oxygène" in 2022 and "Uzima " in 2023.
