Meet AFRIMA’s Youngest Ever Nominee, 13-yr-old Shanah Manjeru

Shanah Manjeru, an artiste from Nairobi, Kenya is the youngest ever nominee of All Africa Music Awards (AFRIMA). 

The 13-year-old singer was nominated for her song, ‘God Will Make a Way’. She takes over the record previously held by another Kenyan singer, Nikita Kering at 17 in 2019.

She is contesting in the ‘Best Female Artiste in African Inspirational Music’ category with Ada Ehi Ft Buchi (Nigeria), Afrie (Uganda), Eden (Cote d’Ivoire), Kamo Mphela (South Africa), Montess (Cameroon), Nata (Sierra Leone), Ruth Asong (Cameroon), Diana Hamilton (Ghana) and Kelly Khumalo (South Africa).

Shanah’s singing talent became evident at the age of three. At age seven, she began to sing officially when her parents put up her first music concert in Ethiopia. In October 2017, at nine years old, Shanah went into professional singing with the release of her debut song, ‘Destiny’. In February 2018, she released her second song, ‘We Are One’ followed closely in April 2018 with ‘Winner’ and ‘God Will Listen’ in December 2018.

In April 2019, Shanah released ‘Worship’ and ‘Worship Symphony’. Her latest songs are the nominated ‘God Will Make a Way’ and ‘Jesus Loves You’ released in August and November 2020 respectively. The singer won the ‘Arts and Culture Award’ category in the Annual African Children of The Year Awards 2019, held in

South Africa and was subsequently nominated as an Ambassador of the Stacey Fru Foundation, South Africa. Shanah’s ‘Winner’ won the ‘Song of the Year Award’ during Kenya Gospel Music Award 2018.