The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) has appointed transsexual Angolan kuduro singer, Titca, as one of its goodwill ambassadors; the latest in a series of celebrities from the former Portuguese colony to become prominent in local awareness campaigns. Miss Universe 2011, Leila Lopes, and women’s basketball star, Nacissela Mauricio, have helped to promote UNAIDS in the recent past.
However, the appointment of Titica is a bold move because she was born a boy in Luanda. Formerly Teca Miguel Garcia until receiving breast implants five years ago, ballet-trained Titica was originally a backing dancer before coming to the attention of Angolans and other Afro-Portuguese music fans at home and in Diaspora with debut album ‘O Chão’ and singles ‘Olha o Boneco’ (recorded with kizomba star Ary), ‘Abula’ and ‘Chão’.
UNAIDS policy of recruiting Angolans who appeal to the country’s youth as ambassadors is an attempt to raise awareness as Angola, officially one of Africa’s least perilous nations in terms of HIV/AIDS prevalence, opens its borders post war to neighbouring Namibia, Zambia and Democratic Republic of the Congo, all of which are amongst the continent’s most hazardous.
Homosexuality is illegal in Angola but the negligible arrest rate suggests it is tolerated to a far greater extent than elsewhere in Africa. Titica has usually declined to comment on her sexuality when asked, but said her new-found stardom had not all been plain-sailing.
“I’ve been stoned, I’ve been beaten, and there is a lot of prejudice against me, a lot of people show that. There is a lot of taboo,” she said.
