Claudia Benezeth Lubao

Claudia Lubao (also known as Chemical) is a Tanzanian female hip-hop musician and an artistic researcher. She holds a becholor's degree in Fine and Performing Arts and a master's in Heritage Management, both received from the University of Dar Es salaam, Tanzania. Claudia is currently at the University of St Andrews, taking a practice-based PhD in Music Activism, Communication and Herritage Preservation. Claudia's PhD is an autoethnographic study (supervised by Dr. Bede Williams, Prof. Richard Bates and Nina Laure) that aims to examine how Tanzanian popular music is used to communicate global issues such as heritage and climate for sustainable preservation. Her PhD is building on her previous work of "Musicalizing Heritage" where she wrote and released music about heritage preservation. Being a well-established musician in Tanzania with over million followers across digital platforms, Claudia uses her public profile and social media platform as part of her research process. In 2022, she (Chemical) received the award for best female hip-hop musician on the Tanzanian Music Awards (TMA) that are convened and governed by the Tanzania Arts Council of the Ministry of Arts, Culture and Sports. 

Claudia's research project advocates the importance of using music to communicate academic findings for broader outreach and awereness raising by specifically focusing on issues concerning heritage preservation. Visit her digital channels for more her musical work: YouTube , Instagram, Twitter &  All about Chemical