At just 18 Abigail Chamungwana is soaring high.

She was recently awarded the Outstanding Youth in Entertainment at the Tanzania Emerging Youth Awards this past August because of her work in youth engagement through music.

The award comes hot on the heels of being named Unicef’s youth advocate in Tanzania on Mental Health and Gender Equality during the 2020 International World Children’s Day. She also released a song to mark the occasion.

“These are two issues that I am very passionate about, and I am honoured to work with Unicef,” she told The EastAfrican. Simply known as Abby Chams to her fans, she believes Unicef picked her because of the advocacy work she was already doing for gender equality, mental health issues and the youth.

Two years ago, Abby founded a youth programme "Teen Talks With Abby Chams", as a “safe space for young people to talk about the challenges they are facing and discuss solutions, normalise mental health issues and eliminate the shame and stigma that surrounds it,” said Abby Chams.

“I remember almost dropping music in the third grade, but this is when I learned to push myself beyond my limits, staying disciplined and motivated in my practise. My parents also played a huge role in encouraging me. I feel incredibly proud of myself for persevering and I hope someone else will be inspired to keep playing or practise when they see me play my musical instrument,” she added.

Abby Chams said that she pushed herself to learn the violin and is proud of her skill because it is one of the hardest instruments she has ever learned to play.

Her biggest challenge she says is the community around her.

“Many times my teachers would call my parents, concerned that music was distracting me from my studies and yet I was a brilliant student. My teachers did not want to lose me but this discouraged me. It was my mission to show that a teenager can accomplish whatever they set their mind to with determination and self-discipline,” says Abby Chams.

She has just finished her high school studies and passed with an impressive A grade. She is planning to study Business and Finance in college, while still pursuing a career in music.

She started playing the piano at the age of five, learned the violin at eight and was as a student of the Associated Board of Royal Music (ABRSM). Currently, she has mastered five instruments; the piano, guitar, violin, drums and flute, and she is also a vocalist.

Music is dear to her and she won her first award — the Maranatha Eastern African Award for “Purpose-Driven Personality of the Year” in 2019 — when she was 15 years old. Her second award was the “Teen Celebrity of the Year” in 2020 awarded in Nigeria.

She also won the “Goodwill Ambassador of the Year” in the same year. Although she identifies as a gospel musician, Abby believes that as an artiste, she is not bound to one genre.

“I sing what I am feeling as long as it does not encourage anyone to do anything that is against the will of God or against the law. I sing gospel, love songs and inspirational music," she said.

She has collaborated with heavy weights in the country's music scene such as Diamond Platinumz, Zuchu, Nandy, Lady Jaydee, Darassa, Ray Vanny, Rosa Ree, Ben Pol and Juma Jux.She also participated in the song Superwoman and in Lala Salama, which was a tribute to the late president John Magufuli.

She has also worked with the late James Nee from South Africa, Steve Crown, Jimmy D Psalmist, Chris Shalom from Nigeria, and Jekalyn Carr from the US.

Abby Chams attributes her musical talent to her late grandfather, who was a music conductor in an orchestra and was a multi-instrumentalist who played the piano, guitar, accordion and trumpet. Her grandmother was a church choir singer.

“You could say my musical journey began even before I was even born,” she said.