Ethiopian music producer and director Guta Wakuma Chimsa has launched CHIKKA, the debut album from JUA, a Ethiopian-Kenyan DJ duo created with Kenyan producer Mr. Lu, in a project aimed at spotlighting East Africa’s shared musical roots and modern sound.
According to the press release, the album was developed over two and a half years of research that began in 2023 and traced what the creators describe as a single rhythmic thread running through music traditions across East Africa under different names. The project brings together voices from seven countries — Ethiopia, Eritrea, Sudan, Kenya, Tanzania, Lesotho and Seychelles — to build a contemporary sound that connects ancestral rhythm with modern production.
The release says the first single, Mass High, will be released on June 1, 2026, ahead of the full album rollout planned for September 2026. JUA says the project is intended to go beyond music and evolve into a broader cultural movement involving dancers, visual artists and fashion designers.
Guta said the project began with a hunch that East African music shares a deeper common pulse, but grew into a larger exploration after conversations with Kenyan musicians helped guide the research. The team says the result is a new East African sound that bridges heritage and futuristic dance music.
The press release also says CHIKKA is being developed under Misrak Studio, also known as DARAJA, a Nairobi-based East African music innovation hub founded in 2024. The studio says the project is its first major musical production and is meant to act as a bridge connecting East African creative communities through collaboration and shared history.
JUA describes itself as an Ethiopian-Kenyan DJ-producer duo made up of ISATIRAT and Mr. Lu, while the wider project includes a network of singers and performers from across the region. The release says the duo aims to place East Africa more firmly on the global map through music and related creative industries.
