The Best East African Songs Right Now

If you perk your ears to the wind, then close your eyes to hear a little better, you can almost hear the rush of musicians racing to drop new albums and singles before the end of year. Everyone is looking for that final big release, and maybe even the song that will soundtrack the East African summer.

October gave us a small glimpse of what is coming…but if my inbox is anything to go by, there is a lot more music on the way. For now, the month has given us a great sampling of cross-border collaborations, long-awaited collabs, emerging artists making bold introductions and some of the region’s biggest names gearing up for their next chapters.

October’s East African music roundup takes us from Rwanda and Uganda to Kenya, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Somalia. Here are some of our favorite East African songs this month:

Bien — “I’ll Be Okay” (Kenya)

Six months after giving us one of Kenya’s songs of the year with “Finale,” Bien is back, and somehow his rise still seems to be gathering speed. “I’ll Be Okay” arrived alongside another major career milestone: the Kenyan singer became the first African artist signed to Atlanta powerhouse Quality Control Music, home to artists including Migos and Lil Baby. The song has wasted no time taking off either, spending much of October at No. 1 on Kenyan charts and crossing 9 million YouTube views in just over three weeks. It is also the first taste of Bien’s forthcoming album, Alusa Continua, out later this month.

FREEK — “SENZU BEAN” (Somalia)

FREEK gives “SENZU BEAN” fresh life with a new visual for one of the standouts from his ANTI HERO project. The UAE-based Somali rapper packs plenty into such a short track. There is something wonderfully unruly about it. It is punchy and gone almost as soon as it arrives, leaving you wanting to run it back.

Diez Dola “ONIVA” feat. The Ben (Rwanda)

What a fun meeting of two generations of Rwandan music. Rising artist Diez Dola joins forces with veteran hitmaker The Ben on “ONIVA,” an infectious collabo that feels as colorful as its video looks. There is something especially satisfying about watching an artist from Rwanda’s new wave share space with one of the country’s most established stars without either having to bend too far from their own sound. The track is also the final single ahead of Diez Dola’s forthcoming album, PROPAGANDA.

Veronica Adane x Rayvanny — “Bironica” (Ethiopia/Tanzania)

We do not get nearly enough musical exchange between Ethiopia and Tanzania, which makes Veronica Adane and Rayvanny’s “Bironica” especially exciting. The Ethiopian singer and Tanzanian Bongo Flava star meet each other across languages. I’d love to hear the story about how the song came together.

Karole Kasita x Sheebah — “Bukutu” (Uganda)

Sometimes the collaboration is worth the wait. Karole Kasita first approached Sheebah about making a song together around three years ago, and after years of trading ideas, Uganda’s two powerhouse performers have finally landed on “Bukutu.”The long-awaited pairing has already struck a chord at home: “Bukutu” climbed to No. 1 on Uganda’s YouTube trending chart shortly after its release.