Zhala

Born in Stockholm in 1987 as Zhala Zhino Rifat, Zhala grew up in Hjulsta, a northwestern suburb of the Swedish capital, in a Kurdish family that had moved from Iraq in the 1980s. Her artistic path began early, first through a school project linked to poetry and later with Tensta Gospel, where she crossed paths with artists such as Lykke Li and Mapei, before completing part of her musical education in Los Angeles. Around 2010 she sang backing vocals on Lykke Li’s world tour and appears on the 2011 album Wounded Rhymes, a milestone that preceded the launch of her solo project. With the single “Slippin’ Around” (2012) and the EP Prophet (2014), Zhala established an oblique pop songwriting style marked by electronic textures, a free vocal approach and deliberate nods to experimental pop as well as inflections from Kurdish music. Signed to Robyn’s label Konichiwa Records, she released her debut album Zhala in 2015. Her trajectory includes appearances at festivals like Way Out West and Bestival and dates supporting Robyn. In the years that followed she continued to release singles, including “Holes” (2020), maintaining a hybrid aesthetic between synth-driven pop, psychedelic motifs and Middle Eastern melodic heritage.