ZAMBIA · CULTURE
Key Facts
- —What is happening Zambia culture in October 2026 runs from Zamrock and Sampa the Great to the Kuomboka and Ncwala ceremonies, with six dances and rites on UNESCO’s heritage list.
- —Why it matters Zambian culture now reaches American audiences through Harvard author Namwali Serpell, Cannes prizewinner Rungano Nyoni and footballer Barbra Banda, so the country’s soft power reaches well beyond copper.
- —The numbers About 19.6 million people lived in Zambia at the preliminary 2022 census, six Zambian items sit on UNESCO’s intangible heritage list, and Mosi-oa-Tunya (Victoria Falls) has been a World Heritage Site since 1989.
- —Who is who Key names are Sampa the Great, Yo Maps, Chile One, Namwali Serpell, Rungano Nyoni, Barbra Banda and Kalusha Bwalya, alongside traditional rulers such as Paramount Chief Mpezeni IV.
- —What to watch Watch the next Kwacha Music Awards and the annual Kuomboka, Ncwala and Mutomboko ceremonies, whose 2027 dates were not confirmed in the sources checked by 23 October 2026.
- —What it means for you US readers can meet Zambian culture in lecture halls, cinemas and stadiums at home, and visitors reach it through Livingstone, Lusaka and the festival calendar.
From Zamrock to the Kuomboka, these are the people and traditions behind Zambia culture. The list runs from Namwali Serpell to Barbra Banda.
Zambia culture in 2026 mixes royal ceremonies, a rock revival, prizewinning novels and a football team with a famous story. It matters to US readers because Zambian artists, writers and athletes now work in American universities, cinemas and stadiums.
This guide names the key figures in music, books, film, art, sport, media and festivals. It also explains what they say about a country of about 19.6 million people, the preliminary 2022 census count.
More coverage sits on the Rio Times Zambia page. Readers who want the wider picture can start with the Zambia explainer on copper and politics.
Zambia Culture at a Glance
Zambia is a landlocked republic in Southern Africa. It gained independence from Britain on 24 October 1964 and counts many peoples, among them the Lozi, Ngoni and Lunda.
Each people keeps its own language, rulers and ceremonies. That variety is the raw material of Zambian culture.
UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, protects several of these traditions. Its list for Zambia is summarised below.
As of October 2026, UNESCO lists six Zambian items on its intangible heritage list. They are Mangwengwe (2024), Kalela (2022), Budima (2020), the Lenje Mooba dance (2018), Makishi masquerade (2008) and Gule Wamkulu (2008).
Gule Wamkulu, the great dance of the Chewa people, is also on that list. On the natural side, Mosi-oa-Tunya, the Victoria Falls shared with Zimbabwe, has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1989.
Music, From Zamrock to the Kwacha Awards
Zambia’s most celebrated musical moment came in the 1970s, when copper wealth funded a homegrown rock scene called Zamrock. It mixed psychedelic rock and heavy metal with kalindula, a Zambian dance style, according to the South African paper Mail & Guardian.
The WITCH album Introduction, from 1973, was the first commercial Zamrock album, the report says. In June 1975 President Kenneth Kaunda ordered radio stations to play 90% Zambian music.
The scene faded by the end of the decade as copper prices fell. WITCH returned with Zango, its first album in 39 years, recorded at DB Studios in Lusaka and released in 2023.
Its singer Emmanuel “Jagari” Chanda was nicknamed after Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones. A box-set reissue by the label Now-Again Sounds in the early 2010s sparked a decade-long world tour, the review adds.
Today the main prize is the Kwacha Music Awards. Chile One won five at the 2025 edition, among them Song of the Year, the Zambia Monitor reported on 30 November 2025.
Yo Maps won Best Male Artiste at the 2024 Kwacha awards, and Chef 187 won Best Hip Hop. Veteran Moses Sakala received that year’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and Macky 2 took the Humanitarian Award, says the Zambia Monitor.
Yo Maps also won Best Male Artiste in Southern Africa at the 9th All Africa Music Awards in Lagos. The Zambia Monitor reported that on 13 January 2026.
The best-known Zambian voice abroad is Sampa the Great, born in Zambia, raised in Botswana and Melbourne-based in 2019. She won the 2019 ARIA Music Award for Best Hip Hop Release with the single “Final Form”, SBS reports.
Her video for that song was shot in Zambia and features traditional Nyau dancers in feathered masks. It was nominated for best video, SBS reports.
Writers, From Sinyangwe to Serpell
Zambian fiction found a wider audience in the 1990s with Binwell Sinyangwe. His first novel, Quills of Desire, appeared from Baobab Books in Zimbabwe in 1993 and from Heinemann in South Africa in 1996.
His second novel, A Cowrie of Hope, joined Heinemann’s African Writers Series in 2000, says his publisher Weaver Press. He was born in 1956 and works as a management consultant.
Today’s best-known Zambian author is Namwali Serpell, who was born in Lusaka and is a professor of English at Harvard University. Her novel The Old Drift follows three Zambian families across a century, starting in 1904 near Victoria Falls.
It won the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award and an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, says its publisher Penguin Random House. Serpell has also received a Windham-Campbell Prize, and the publisher says she lives in New York.
A younger generation is coming through. Lawyer and writer Mubanga Kalimamukwento won the 2019 Dinaane Debut Fiction Award for her novel The Mourning Bird.
She also won the 2019 Kalemba Short Story Prize, a US$1,000 award for unpublished English fiction by Zambians, reported Brittle Paper. The prize is run by the publisher Ukusefya Words.
Film and Visual Art
Film-maker Rungano Nyoni is the Zambia-linked director with the biggest international profile. Her debut I Am Not a Witch won the BAFTA for outstanding British debut at the 18 February 2018 ceremony.
Her second feature, On Becoming a Guinea Fowl, is a Zambia, United Kingdom and Ireland co-production. It shared the Best Director prize in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, says the festival.
The film follows a woman who finds her uncle’s body on a deserted road and then uncovers her family’s secrets. It runs 95 minutes, and the festival credits list Susan Chardy as Shula.
Zambian cinema has also won continental recognition recently. The feature Mwizukanji, produced by Cosmas Ng’andwe, won an Africa Magic award in Lagos on 10 May 2025, says the Zambia Monitor.
Its category was Best Indigenous Language (Southern Africa). Other Zambian productions nominated in various categories included Pastor Wants a Wife, Man of Gold and Kopala Queens.
In visual art, a leading figure is Henry Tayali, born in 1943 in Serenje. He trained at Makerere University in Uganda and Dusseldorf Art College, and his early work Destiny is called historical.
Artists formed the Zambia National Visual Arts Council in 1989. Its Henry Tayali Visual Art Centre at the Lusaka Showgrounds opened in 1995.
Younger artist Stary Mwaba showed Life on Mars in Berlin in 2015. The work covers the 1960s dream of sending Zambian “Afronauts” to Mars, says Contemporary And.
Sport Icons, From Kalusha Bwalya to Barbra Banda
Football is Zambia’s shared passion, and its defining story dates to 1993. A plane carrying the national team to a World Cup qualifier crashed off Libreville, Gabon, and killed most of the squad.
Nineteen years later Zambia won the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations in the same city. The Chipolopolo, or Copper Bullets, beat Ivory Coast 8–7 on penalties after a 0–0 draw.
The final was on Sunday, 12 February 2012, under coach Hervé Renard. Flashscore calls the 2012 triumph among the greatest football stories ever told.
Kalusha Bwalya is the era’s best-known player, and the Confederation of African Football counts him as its 1988 player-of-the-year winner. He also scored a hat-trick in a 4–0 win over Italy at that year’s Olympics, according to the Olympedia record.
The current star is Barbra Banda, who captained the women’s team, the Copper Queens, in 2024. She was named CAF Women’s Player of the Year in Marrakech on Monday, 16 December 2024, the Confederation of African Football reported.
Banda joined the American club Orlando Pride in 2024 after four years at Shanghai Shengli in China. In her first season in the American league she scored 17 goals in 25 games, CAF said.
Festivals and the Media That Carry Them
Zambia’s ceremonies are the heart of its culture, and the biggest is the Kuomboka of the Lozi people. In 2026 it was held on Saturday, 28 March.
The Litunga, the Lozi king, moved from flood-prone Lealui to Limulunga on higher ground. The move follows the annual flooding of the Zambezi plain.
The royal barge Nalikwanda carried him, and the Maoma drums opened the day, the Lusaka Times reported. President Hakainde Hichilema was reported attending in Mongu.
The Ncwala of the Ngoni people is held in the Chipata area of Eastern Province as thanksgiving for the first fruits. The 2026 main ceremony was set for Saturday, 28 February, after Paramount Chief Mpezeni IV led a procession, the Lusaka Times said.
The Mutomboko, or Umutomboko, of the Lunda people is held at Mwansabombwe in Luapula Province, says Music In Africa. It is led by the Mwata Kazembe, the Lunda king, and marks the arrival of the Lunda and Luba from the Congo.
Makishi masked dancers show how these traditions stay alive in public life. Zambia’s online outlets, such as the Zambia Monitor and the Lusaka Times, now cover awards and ceremonies closely.
What the Key Figures Say About Zambia
Taken together, these names show a country that protects its traditions and exports its talent. Kings and chiefs still lead ceremonies that draw presidents, while artists build careers in Melbourne, Cambridge, Massachusetts and Orlando.
They also show how culture and politics overlap, as Kaunda’s 90% radio rule of 1975 shows. The 1993 and 2012 football stories still shape national pride.
For the political backdrop, see the guide to who holds power in Zambia and the guide to Zambia in the geopolitical contest. The guide to Zambia and its neighbours explains the region around it.
What It Means for US Readers
For travellers, Mosi-oa-Tunya and the festival calendar are the main draws. Check the US State Department travel advisory for Zambia before booking.
For students and book readers, Serpell’s work at Harvard and her novel link Zambia to American campuses. Nyoni’s Cannes-awarded film is a Zambia, United Kingdom and Ireland co-production.
For sports fans, Banda joined an American women’s league club in 2024, and the 2012 story is among football’s best-told. For investors, the sources checked give no official figures on the creative sector, so its size is unknown.
What Is Not Known
As of 23 October 2026, who holds the culture and tourism portfolio could not be confirmed. The first four ministers named on 14 September 2026 held finance, health, foreign affairs and environment.
There are no official statistics in the sources checked on the size or earnings of Zambia’s music, film and festival sectors. The 2027 dates of the Kuomboka, Ncwala and Mutomboko, and Banda’s club for the 2026-27 season, are also unconfirmed.
No media personalities are named, because their records could not be checked against primary sources. The figures are not ranked, because no official list exists.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Zambia culture best known for?
Abroad, Zambia is best known for the Kuomboka and Ncwala ceremonies, Zamrock music and Victoria Falls. UNESCO lists six Zambian dances and rites as of October 2026.
Who is the best-known Zambian musician abroad?
Sampa the Great is the best-known Zambian voice abroad. She won an ARIA Music Award in 2019 and was Melbourne-based then.
Who are Zambia’s most famous writers?
Namwali Serpell, born in Lusaka, won the 2020 Arthur C. Clarke Award for The Old Drift. Earlier, Binwell Sinyangwe published Quills of Desire in 1993.
What is the Kuomboka ceremony?
It is the Lozi people’s ceremony in Western Province in which the Litunga moves from Lealui to Limulunga as the plain floods. The 2026 edition was held on 28 March.
Who is Barbra Banda?
Barbra Banda captained Zambia’s Copper Queens in 2024 and joined Orlando Pride in the United States that year. She was named CAF Women’s Player of the Year on 16 December 2024.
What happened to Zambia’s football team in 1993 and 2012?
A plane crash off Gabon in 1993 killed most of the national squad. Zambia won the Africa Cup of Nations in Libreville in 2012, beating Ivory Coast on penalties.
Sources: UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage; UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Zambia Statistics Agency census (Lusaka Times); Cannes Film Festival; BAFTA; Penguin Random House; Confederation of African Football; Olympedia; Lusaka Times (Kuomboka); Lusaka Times (Ncwala); Zambia Monitor (Kwacha awards 2025); Zambia Monitor (Kwacha awards 2024); Mail & Guardian; SBS; Weaver Press; Brittle Paper; Museum of Modern African Art (Henry Tayali); Flashscore (1993 and 2012); The42 (2012 final); Zambian Digest (independence); Zambia Monitor (AMVCA 2025); Zambia Monitor (AFRIMA); Contemporary And (Stary Mwaba); Music In Africa (Umutomboko); BFI (BAFTA 2018) (all accessed 23 October 2026).
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief
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