Rayvanny leaves a mark in Bongo Flava music history

Another win for the Bongo Flava music as on Sunday, WCB Signee and Next Level Music CEO Raymond Shaban Mwakyusa aka Rayvanny made history, becoming the first African artiste to ever perform at the MTV European Music Awards main event.

Performing ‘Mama Tetema’ alongside Colombian Superstar Maluma in Hungary led to Rayvanny making yet another record for being the first African artiste, first from Tanzania to perform Bongo music at such a huge and prominent event.

The song ‘Tetema,’ produced by one of Tanzania’s finest producer, S2Kizzy with a number of remixed songs followed, continues putting the Bongo Flava music more into the global scenes.

Bongo Flava, Afrobeats kind has been gaining a global fan base, almost a point of pride across East Africa.

Artistes such as Rayvanny, his label’s boss Diamond Platnumz, nemesis Harmonize and Alikiba are among the many Bongo Flava musicians establishing a path to global domination, third in Africa from South African and Nigerian music.

First to commend, Diamond Platnumz, urges other artistes to be focused and disciplined so that their music can go far and not end up in drug abuse.

You will recall Diamond was vying for the award in the Best African Act category which the victory went to Wizkid of Nigeria, with Diamond himself, Tems, Amaarae and Focalistic competing for the title.

Before being signed under WCB record label, Vanny boy was a rap singer who started music in 2011 when he emerged victorious in the Free Style competition at Coco Beach in Dar es Salaam city.

Stepped into Bongo Flava genre in April 2016 he was signed to Diamond Platnumz’s label and released his first song, Kwetu, which performed well in multiple platforms.

On the night of June 25, 2017 at the Microsoft Theater Center, Los Angeles in the United States, the Kwetu singer was crowned ‘Best New International Act’ title from BET Award through the Viewer’s Choice and became the first and only artiste from Tanzania to win such an award so far.

His Boss, Diamond Platnumz, competed for the BET Awards three times without winning. First in 2014, 2016 and 2021.

Thus, Rayvanny becomes the second East African artiste to win the award after Uganda’s Eddy Kenzo who won in 2015 and became the first artiste in the region.

In February 2020 he released his first Extended Playlist (EP), Flowers, which did well and received a nod in the Grammy Awards nominations.

This year, in February, 2021 Rayvanny released his Sound From Africa album featuring a number of Africa’s finest artistes in 23 hit songs.

‘Sound From Africa’ set record in East Africa by reaching over 100 million streams in just one week since its release.

Marking his biggest achievement, in March, this year, Vanny Boy while still under WCB, launched his own record label, Next Level Music (NLM) as the second artiste from the label after Harmonize with Konde Gang

The vibrant Kiuno singer introduced his first signee under NLM in September.

Mac Voice has recently been nominated for the African Entertainment Awards USA (AEAUSA) from the United States where he has been cast in the category of Best Young Artist 2021.

Rayvanny’s performance alongside Maluma in Laszlo Papp Budapest, Hungary, only adds up to many records he has already made in the Bongo Flava music.

The performance was extra ordinary, seemed like the young artiste was already used to new global grounds.

Since it was first launched in November 24, 1994 African artistes who shone in MTV EMAs were those nominated but never performed on stage until Next level CEO.

The original Tetema song was released on February 20, 2019 featuring Diamond Platnumz. The song almost hits 60 million views from different parts of the world.

Fellow artistes, including Jux, Shetta, Professor Jay, Gnako, Maua Samma and Zuchu use their social media platforms to compliment the historic moment made by the Rayvanny.

Expressing his gratitude to the government, Rayvanny says, “It feels so good when your government supports your works, thanks a lot to the ministry of Culture, Arts and Sports. This is an honour for me and the industry as a whole when you realize what we are doing, I thank very much the ministry of Culture Arts and Sports.”

New released music video for ‘Mama Tetema’ featuring Maluma involves two directors, Tanzania’s famous Hanscana Maluma’s Jessy terrero, a Dominican director that shot artistes like Jay Balvin, Ricky Martin, Nicky Jam, Bad Bunny and more.