As an avid TikTok user, you will certainly have come across the viral dance challenge to the tune of "Up Burukanga" (Flying), the catchy, hands-in-the-air anthem by Collins Njuguna, also known as Collo Blue, featuring Ade Prince.
However, behind the high-energy moves and urban vibe lies a deeply layered story that moves from morgues to music studios, trauma to therapy and grief to groove.
Mc Leen (left) engages with Collo Blue during the Sky Festival event at Moi International Sports Centre, Kasarani in Nairobi on March 1, 2025.
Photo credit: Bonface Bogita | Nation
At just 26, Collo Blue is not only a dancer and musician. He is also a psychologist specialising in loss and grief therapy, a career path born out of personal pain. First things first, who is Collo Blue professionally?
I am 26. Professionally, I am a psychologist. I have done my undergraduate, and I am finishing my master's this year at Kenyatta University; done with class work, waiting for graduation. I specialise in loss and grief therapy.
For five years since 2020, volunteering as a professional psychologist. That is heavy. Where did this passion for grief therapy come from? My mum is the most stable person I know. She is learned, has her own money, but she went from a hundred to zero overnight because she lost her sister. My mum was almost losing it. I was very confused. She was screaming at 3 am, leaving the house in a nightdress to go look for her sister because she could not fathom that she had died. During the funeral, she fainted 12 times. This was trauma, PTSD. I did not ever want any other child to see their mum in the light that I did.I wanted to make sure that I spread the word about grief therapy and help as many people as possible who are going through grief.
And yet, you are also in entertainment. How did music and dance start?
My talent is not as a dancer. I started singing in 2016. In high school, I was in the choir, but singing (as a career) was a bit expensive to start back then. So, dancing was a bit easier to access because you only needed a Bluetooth speaker and people to dance with. Around 2019, when TikTok came, I shared with them the dream I had of creating a team, a company that would work together to build each other, you know? Basically, just people who come together and help each other grow in matters of content and creating content using dance. I started with a few friends and a few colleagues that I have worked with on TikTok over the last eight, seven years. So you were balancing the morgue and the stage. How? It is just about having passion for grief and therapy, having passion for psychology and therapy, and also having passion for dance and the arts. Dancing and working in a mortuary were actually complementing each other. So, I was always fresh at work after doing my dance. (Working at) The mortuary never affected me emotionally, because I was already trained. But now, I have something else I am doing on the side, not just working as a therapist.
Collins Njuguna, alias Collo Blue, is the creator of the viral dance challenge and the song “Up Burukanga” (Flying), the infectious, hands-in-the-air anthem.
Photo credit: Pool
Dancing got busier after I created a talent management company, known as Cluster Dance Company, which required a lot of my time. Our job is to scout, recruit, manage, and then sell talent and make a profit. At the Mortuary, I was needed almost every day, because clients keep coming in. Let’s say I was with a client yesterday, they want to see me today as they come see the body, and then tomorrow as they come take the body for burial. I wasn't available every other time, which was detrimental to my clients. I realised I would hurt my clients by not being consistent with their sessions. So, instead I realised it would be better to just sit it out until the time comes when I am a bit more flexible.
I never want to be employed in my life. So, that's not an option for me.
Colloblue ft Addeh Prince - Up Burukanga
Who wrote and produced your latest song, “Up Burukanga”?
It is produced by a producer known as Wakawaka. He is the same guy who has produced “Donjo Maber”, “Kifo cha Mende”, and most of Iyanni's songs. Ade Prince and I wrote the song.
No, we just did our best and asked God for blessings.
Burukanga is a dance style. It's called ‘Up Burukanga’. You just lift your hands up, and then you bring them down, and then you take them to the side. Like you are flying. The song is in Kikuyu, yet it’s trending widely.
I am a high promoter of culture, authenticity, and where I come from. I was brought up in Nairobi, but my parents really insisted on my being able to understand and speak fluent Kikuyu. By age six, I was fluent in Kikuyu. I met Adeh Prince, and we did the song. On his part, he speaks about consistency, not giving up and not conforming. So, being a disruptor, I am not just one to do the normal things. I just do what speaks to me. And at the time, I wanted to do a cultural, urban sound. So, it is urban, but has a cultural aspect because all of us come from somewhere. And I am super proud to be Kikuyu. So, of course, I collaborated with Ade, a dope Kikuyu artiste.
Collins Njuguna, alias Collo Blue, is the creator of the viral dance challenge and the song “Up Burukanga”.
Photo credit: Pool
It's not a Swahili song, it's a Kikuyu song, but everyone is jamming to it. I am just amazed by the love and appreciate it. I’m humbled more by the love that the people have shown me for the last six, seven years online, from being a dancer to now doing dance music.
Art is art. Kikuyu music, whether Mugithi or Benga songs, is among the biggest genres of music and plays a very big part in the history of Kenya. I am working on more songs because our fans are looking for more new jams.
