Reviewing Rayvanny and Lava lava's Contribution to Success of Singeli Music
15 April 2020
By Paul A.
Singeli is Tanzania's version of electronic dance music that emerged in the mid-2000s.
The genre fuses rapid beats and musical influences from older Tanzanian genres like Taarab, Mchiriku, Segere, and Bongo Flava.
Instruments, samples, and vocals are often pitch-shifted up, adding to the frenetic atmosphere.
For years, this music style has remained underground until late 2019. During this period, mainstream artists like Matonya started sampling the style in their bongo releases.
However, come 2020, things changed as Singeli music went officially mainstream thanks to Rayvanny and Lava lava.
The two artistes are already enjoying massive airplay across Africa and this year they collaborated with established Singeli artistes to further spread the genre.
First, Lava lava collaborated with Meja Kunta on ‘Wanga’. This song not only introduced Singeli to the mainstream, but also attracted interest from America’s top producer Swizz Beatz.
Beatz is on record stating that he has plans of sampling the beats in his production works.To date, the song has amassed over 2.5 million views.
On the other hand, Rayvanny featured Dulla Makabila in ‘Miss Buza’; asong that has received over 2.5 million views on YouTube.
With these two key collaborations between established bongo artists and top Singeli musicians, it is clear that the genre is now part of the mainstream sound in Africa, and is getting the much needed recognition.
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