MUSIC (Kenya+Tanzania): La Vie by Tanasha Donna ft. Mbosso

Play La Vie {Video}

            Thanks largely to Tanasha Donna’s polylingual experiences – Italian, Luo, Swahili, English and French – La Vie, featuring Tanzania’s Mbosso, is sung in a seductive mix of three spoken languages and an array of body texts. The clip in which we see and hear this January 2020 hit, fronted by this Kenyan ‘dame’, is put together with remarkably deft hands and, on the other hand, discerning eyes and ears. Ours is to partake of the thrilling and memorable fare.

            It is Tanasha’s looks and sultry voice that put us on notice in the very first seconds of La Vie. But Mbosso, with the cheerful passion and sure-footed charm with which he characteristically pursues the flame of the moment, isn’t left too far behind. Indeed, he bursts onto the scene fully warmed-up.

            But, as always perhaps, you hear here what your ear is trained to hear. Mara (now) it’s stylized and adapted Taarab. Mara it’s something new that otherwise sounds old and deceptively familiar and Eastern. Mara it’s a twist in the beat and the melody that your ear hasn’t heard before...