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Kam Tambini
Feb. 25, 2019 02:49PM EST

Listen to Harmonize's 'Afro Bongo' EP

Featuring Burna Boy, Diamond Platnumz, Mr Eazi, and Yemi Alade.

Harmonize dropped what was easily one of our favorite songs of 2018 with "Kwa Ngwaru." The Tanzanian stars now continues his hit-making trend with the release of the new 4-track Afro Bongo EP.

The Afro Bongo EP showcases Harmonize's impressive blend of bongo flava with afropop elements and features a top-tier list of collaborators.

Fellow Tanzanian star Diamond Platnumz and Burna Boy show up for the Mix Master Garzy-produced lead track, "Kainama." Yemi Alade features on the addictive Krizbeatz-produced "Show Me What You Got" and man of the moment Mr Eazi turns up for the percussion-heavy jam "Tepete," produced by Chopstix. While Harmonze takes the Fraga-produced closing bonus track, "Niteke," by himself.

It looks likes it's gonna be another good year for the Wasafi Records family.

Listen to Harmonize's four-song Afro Bongo EP in the Youtube Playlist below.

Read: The Best East African Songs of 2018

Harmonize x Burna Boy x Diamond Platnumz - Kainama (Official Audio) www.youtube.com


tanzania afro bongo harmonize
Audio
Harmonize, Diamond Platnumz, Burna Boy "Kainama" (Youtube)

The 20 Best East African Songs of 2019

Featuring tracks from Harmonize, Diamond Platnumz, Sauti Sol, Irene Ntale, Ethic, Vanessa Mdee and many more.

2019 was a year full of positive growth for East African music. It saw many artists from the region make the necessary strides to take East African music to the next level.

The launch of new independent imprints continued to develop a class of budding stars. Sauti Sol's new Sol Generation label, for example, boasts a stellar roster that includes artists like Bensoul and Nviiri the Storyteller, who have topped the charts this year. =Tanzanian bongo flava heavyweight Harmonize left Diamond Platnumz' WCB Wasafi records and set up his own independent imprint called Konde Gang Music Worldwide. This is a dramatic move from the bongo flava superstar but it's exciting to see what he and his new label will offer in the coming year.

Follow our East African Grooves playlist on Spotify and Apple Music.

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Tanzanian Comedian Idris Sultan Apologizes to President Magufuli

The comedian says his now viral face-swap photo of the president was not ill-intended.

The past few weeks have been a whirlwind for Tanzanian comedian Idris Sultan. Late last month, he was arrested after he posted a photo on social media where he had face swapped an image of President John Pombe Magufuli on his 60th birthday with a caption that read "We swapped roles for a day so that he could enjoy his birthday in peace". Sultan was held by the police under the Cybercrimes Act which makes it illegal for any individual to impersonate another digitally. Yesterday, the comedian apologized to the president, according to The Citizen Tanzania.

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Photo courtesy of CSA Global.

In Conversation with Congolese NBA Player Emmanuel Mudiay: 'I want more African players in the NBA.'

The Utah Jazz player talks about being African in the NBA, supporting basketball in the DRC and how 'everybody knows about Burna Boy'.

Inspired by his basketball-playing older brothers, by second grade, Emmanuel Mudiay already knew that he wanted to play in the American National Basketball Association. Then in 2001 his family, fleeing the war in Democratic Republic of Congo, sought asylum in the United States.

In America, Mudiay saw basketball as a way for him to improve his situation. After impressive high school and college careers, he moved to China to play pro ball. Picked 7th overall in the 2015 NBA draft, the now 23-year-old guard has made a name for himself this season coming off the bench for the Utah Jazz.

Mudiay attests to the sport having changed not only his life but that of his siblings. Basketball gave them all a chance at a good education and the opportunity to dream without conditions. Now he wants to see other talented African players make it too.

We caught up with him to talk about his experience as an African player in the NBA, his hopes for basketball on the African continent and who he and his teammates jam out to in their locker rooms.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

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University lecturer and activist Doctor Stella Nyanzi (L) reacts in court as she attends a trial to face charges for cyber-harassment and offensives communication, in Kampala, on April 10, 2017. (Photo by GAEL GRILHOT/AFP via Getty Images)

Jailed Ugandan Activist, Stella Nyanzi, Wins PEN Prize for Freedom of Expression

The outspoken activist, who is currently serving a prison sentence for a poem she wrote about the president's mother's vagina, won for her resistance "in front of a regime that is trying to suppress her."

Stella Nyanzi, the Ugandan academic, activist, and vocal critic of President Yoweri Museveni has been awarded the 2020 Oxfam Novib/PEN International award for freedom of expression, given to writers who "continue to work for freedom of expression in the face of persecution."

Nyanzi is currently serving a 15 month sentence for "cyber harassment" after she published a poem in which she wrote that she wished "the acidic pus flooding Esiteri's (the president's mother) vaginal canal had burn up your unborn fetus. Burn you up as badly as you have corroded all morality and professionalism out of our public institutions in Uganda."

According to the director of PEN International, Carles Torner, her unfiltered outspokenness around the issues facing her country is what earned her the award. "For her, writing is a permanent form of resistance in front of a regime that is trying to suppress her," said Torner at the award ceremony.

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