Bild på Toussaint Chiza

Toussaint Chiza

After winning both Idol and Melodifestivalen, Toussaint Chiza, formerly known as Tusse, left the major-label world to make music on his own terms. This spring he joined Fasching with the big band project Without a Song and the house band KlubbN. Now Toussaint releases his debut album, “It Takes a Village to Love a Child”, and brings his new band to Kungsgatan 63.

The album was written together with producer and composer Irya Gmeyner, whom Chiza met while working on the score for the TV series Tunna blå linjen. Since 2022, the two have spent Sundays in a small red cottage on Södermalm, writing music straight out of his story: fleeing Congo at age five, growing up in Sweden, and returning to Africa for the first time since childhood.

Parts of the album were recorded in Cape Town with Thanda Choir, a homeless gospel choir from Khayelitsha, in a shed in 45-degree heat, with a diesel generator as the only power source. The sound draws on the Black music scenes of London and the US, and African gospel.

“‘It Takes a Village to Love a Child’ is my debut album. After the Idol contract that had me stuck finally ended, I realized a major-label deal didn’t leave room for my creativity. With this album I finally get to spread my wings as a songwriter and explore my own sound,” says Toussaint.