Leo Mkanyia

Leo Mkanyia was born in Dar es Salaam in 1981 and began playing the guitar when he was eight years old.

His father is an African jazz guitarist who played with the renowned Mlimani Park Orchestra.
Leo spent years playing his father’s guitar when he was alone in the house and copying the chords, which he’d seen him play. Music doesn’t pay in Tanzania, and so his father was adamant his son should follow another career.
When he found Leo playing a classic Tanzanian song one day, he decided to give his son his wish, and taught him all that he knew.

His songs tell stories of history, culture, politics, migration, inequality and love.

Leo Mkanyia and his Swahili Blues Band have graced regional and international stages such as the London African Music Festival at the prestigious Southbank in 2011.
Zanzibar’s Sauti za Busara in 2012 and 2015, Bayimba International Festival - Uganda in 2013 and DOADOA Festival in 2015.

Since 1999 he has performed with prominent and legendary Ethiopian Jazz musician, Malatu Astake, that described Leo’s music as “fantastic” during a Tanzania Ethiopia fusion project that brought Leo to Addis Ababa in 2015 and 2017.