Ugandan musician, spiritual leader, and cultural revivalist Jjumba Lubowa Aligaweesa has announced the release of his highly anticipated new album, Super Power, at a press conference that drew media houses, cultural leaders, fellow artists, and followers of the indigenous African spiritual movement he leads.
The announcement is the latest milestone in a career that has consistently defied easy categorisation. Jjumba is not simply a recording artist — he is the Ssabakabona, or Universal High Priest, of Tondism, an indigenous African faith he founded that has since grown to nearly three million followers worldwide, supported by more than 100 worship centres across Uganda and the diaspora.
Born in 1978 in what is now Kyotera District, Jjumba’s journey to prominence was shaped by early hardship. He lost his father at a young age and was raised by his mother, Theresa Namakula Nakamanya, before coming under the care of a Muslim relative, Hajj Sulait Mugerwa — an upbringing that brought him into contact with varied religious traditions from an early age. What emerged from those formative years was an artist and spiritual leader of uncommon determination.
His credentials speak for themselves. He co-authored the official doctrines of Tondism, which the Government of Uganda gazetted in 2021. He has trained and ordained over 1,000 cultural and spiritual practitioners, represented African spirituality at UNESCO forums, and received an Honorary Doctorate in African Culture and Heritage from Humboldt University of Berlin. In November 2024, he set what is believed to be a Ugandan record by launching 30 music videos and 50 audio tracks in a single night at the Kampala Tuzze Cultural Fest — a feat that attracted widespread attention.
Musically, Super Power will add to a catalogue of more than 30 albums, released through his own imprint, Baamu Records. His recent output includes Zukuuka Africa (2023), Amaka Ne Nnono and Obuganda (2024), and Obulamu Bwe’nsi and Omulangira Bam featuring Ssenga Kulanama (2025). His song Stress earned international recognition at the Hollywood Independent Music Awards in Los Angeles in 2025, confirming his reach well beyond Uganda’s borders.
Sources close to the artist say Super Power explores themes consistent with Jjumba’s broader mission — African resilience, spiritual identity, cultural pride, and communal unity. At the press conference, Jjumba offered a characteristically direct summation of the project. “This album is about reminding Africans that the greatest power we have is our culture, our spirituality, and our unity,” he said.
The personal and the professional are rarely far apart in Jjumba’s world. His wife, Nezia Nabakooza — widely known as Ssenga Kulanama, a respected traditional healer and herbalist — is both a creative collaborator and a public figure in her own right. The couple, who married in 2019 at the Walusi Sacred Spiritual Site in Luwero District, have ten children together. Their daughter Najjumba Nakayaga Kalindaluzzi, performing under the name Peshi Denovah, is steadily emerging as a recording artist. Beyond the arts, the family manages a range of business interests including coffee farming, real estate, transport, and a cultural NGO focused on education and community development.
With Super Power, Jjumba Lubowa Aligaweesa continues to make the case — through music, faith, and sheer output — that African culture and spirituality are not artefacts of the past, but living, evolving forces with a great deal left to say.
