INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered only calendar year 2014. The second list ranked songs in the following year, 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in tracking patterns in a few earlier years continued to grow. That interest has now resulted in the list given below of Top 10 happiest pop songs by/featuring African Divas in 2010. But this is it. There will not be a 2009 list, tempting as that year is.
The procedure for generating the 2010 list below derives from the same one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details.
LIST OF TOP 10 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT AFRICAN DIVA'S IN 2010 ~ #TYS
10. Final Mama Ntilie by Ray C (2010):
9. Mkono Mmoja by Temba + Chegge ft. Wahu (2010):
8. Meu Amor by Yola Semedo (2010):
7. Delicious by Paul Play Dairo (2010):
6. Moto Moto by French Boy ft. Ray C (2010):
5. Chokoza by Marya ft. Avril (2010):
4. Ko Ma Roll by Mo' Chedda (2010):
3. Say Ho by Yola Semedo (2010):
2. Congo by Koffi Olomide ft. Cindy Le Coeur (2010):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second list ranked singles released in 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This has now resulted in the list given below of 10 happiest songs by/featuring East African Divas in 2011. The procedure for generating the list below derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF 10 HAPPIEST POP SONGS BY/FEATURING EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2011 ~ #TYS 10. Without You by CJ ft. Amani (2011):
~~~~ 9. Ayokya Yokya by Cindy Sanyu (2011):
8. Automatic by Sheebah ft. Sizza (2011):
7. Kila Mmoja by Nonini ft. Lady Bee x Chege TMK (2011):
6. My Reason by Habida ft. Cannibal (2011):
5. Addicted by Camp Mulla (2011):
4. Hula Hoop by Stella Mwangi ft. Mohombi (2011):
3. Crazy by Shaa (2011):
2. Pollination by Radio and Weasel ft. Obsessions (2011):
1. Party Don't Stop by Camp Mulla ft. Collo (2011):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second list ranked singles released in 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This has now resulted in the list given below of 5 happiest songs by/featuring East African Divas in 2011. The procedure for generating the list below derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF 5 HAPPIEST POP SONGS BY/FEATURING EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2011 ~ #TYS 5. Addicted by Camp Mulla (2011):
4. Hula Hoop by Stella Mwangi ft. Mohombi (2011):
3. Crazy by Shaa (2011):
2. Pollination by Radio and Weasel ft. Obsessions (2011):
1. Party Don't Stop by Camp Mulla ft. Collo (2011):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second list ranked singles released in 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This has now resulted in the list given below of 5 happiest songs by/featuring African divas in 2011. The procedure for generating the list below derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF TOP 5 HAPPIEST POP SONGS BY/FT AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2011 ~ #TYS 5. Cache Cache by Awilo Longomba ft. Unnamed Female Vocalists (2011):
4. Pollination by Radio and Weasel ft. Obsessions (2011):
3. Love Me 3x by Tiwa Savage (2011):
2. Kuchi Kuchi (Oh Baby) by J'Odie (2011):
1. Party Don't Stop by Camp Mulla ft. Collo (2011):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second ranked singles released in 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This has now resulted in the list given below of Top 10 happiest songs by/featuring East African Divas in 2012.
The procedure for generating the list below derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF TOP 10 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2012 ~ #TYS 10. Dudu by Shilole ft. Q Cilla (2012):
9. On Me by Jay A ft. Amina (2012):
8. Uko Freshi by Kendi (2012):
~~~
7. Kitu Kimoja by Avril (2012):
6. Make You Dance by Keko ft. Madtraxx (2012):
5. Viuno Tucheze by Shilole ft. Kitokololo x Rich Mavoko (2012):
4. Feel No Pain by Camp Mulla (2012):
3. Siri Ya Penzi by Shaa (2012):
2. I Wanna Get Paid by Pah One ft. Shrekeezy (2012):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS The first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second ranked singles released in 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This has now resulted in the list given below of Top 5 happiest songs by/featuring East African Divas in 2012.
The procedure for generating the list below derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF TOP 5 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT EAST AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2012 ~ #TYS
5. Viuno Tucheze by Shilole ft. Kitokololo x Rich Mavoko (2012):
4. Feel No Pain by Camp Mulla (2012):
3. Siri Ya Penzi by Shaa (2012):
2. I Wanna Get Paid by Pah One ft. Shrekeezy (2012):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS You will recall that the first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second list covered 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This interest has now resulted in the list given below of the Top 10 Happiest Songs By/Featuring African Divas in 2012.
The procedure for generating the list derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF TOP 10 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2012 ~ #TYS 10. Kitu Kimoja by Avril (2012):
9. Tino Farra by Scarlet (2012):
8. Make You Dance by Keko ft. Madtraxx (2012):
7. Viuno Tucheze by Shilole ft. Kitokololo x Rich Mavoko (2012):
6. Feel No Pain by Camp Mulla (2012):
5. Ife wa Gbona by Tiwa Savage (2012):
4. Siri Ya Penzi by Shaa (2012):
3. I Wanna Get Paid by Pah One ft. Shrekeezy (2012):
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS You will recall that the first list of Africa's Top Pop Songs in #TheYamboSelection series covered calendar year 2014. The second list covered 2015. However, while working on the various 2016 lists, interest in a few earlier years continued to grow. This interest has now resulted in the list given below of the Top 5 Happiest Songs By/Featuring African Divas in 2012.
The procedure for generating the list derives from the one used for the period 2014-2016. Click here for all the essential details. LIST OF TOP 5 HAPPIEST SONGS BY/FEAT AFRICAN DIVAS IN 2012 ~ #TYS
5. Ife wa Gbona by Tiwa Savage (2012):
4. Siri Ya Penzi by Shaa (2012):
3. I Wanna Get Paid by Pah One ft. Shrekeezy (2012):
This segment of #TheYamboSelection presents the top 25 songs of year 2015 released by, or featuring, female singers across East Africa. The same broad criteria were used for 2015 as for 2014 to select and rank the best songs.
There is just so much really good lay music out of Africa these days that you sense you are not doing anyone justice by listing less rather than more; but there is a limit to any leeway. The listing task requires more and more meticulous attention because of growing complexity arising from a discernible and laudable burst of creativity up and down sub-Sahara, and with easier and faster online access to artists' creations, and 'the market'. Every region seems to be catching up with the 'pioneers' and demanding attention by sheer activity and flashes of brilliance. No one can sit on their laurels.
The focus of the lists released under #TheYamboSelection is the song, not the singer. So one singer may appear more than once in the list -- but not more than three times. There is an added requirement: that only songs in video form qualify. In addition, any song under consideration must broadly fit the standard definition of popular (or pop) music. The main sources of the songs considered for listing are the music channels hosted by DStv: Trace Urban (which was 'split' in September 2016 into Trace Mziki and Trace Naija), MTV Base, AfroPop, HipTV, Sound City and TVE (on DStv channel 295 since December 2016). Remember in this context that though the list below refers to 2015 releases, it is published in February 2017. Certainly, YouTube is very important in this exercise. It is actively searched to expand (not to exhaust, ideal as that goal would be) the pool of qualifying clips, and relied upon for online links to the songs specifically listed below. YouTube is indeed a vital, but far from 'straightforward', resource for curating clips not necessarily or frequently featured on dedicated TV channels.
The sound clip with which the Cash Madame video starts is from another song, Juu, which Vanessa (a.k.a. Vee Money) sang with fellow Tanzanian called Jux. It is a sly marketing gimmick for Juu, which you won't recognize if you haven't heard the song. And Juu, as connoisseurs will notice or remember, is a blatant undoing (deletion, even) of One More Night, its fore(shadow), in which Jux clumsily appears, but not with Vanessa. It is all rather tell-tale. Cash Madame's opening images are unreal. Forget about 'em. The arrival in broad daylight of four skimpily-dressed beauties in a pink, convertible Mercedes, armed only with a pistol and a metal bat and overwhelming harmlessness -- it's unreal. To fix, thusly armed, to rob a bunch of hard-core goons of their hoard of hard-fought cash (there u r) -- it's hilarious. And then, and then, to get away with it without a sweat (without a barrage of four-letter words and finger-flicking chasing after 'em) -- forget it. Never happened! The real treat begins soon enough, though, 50 seconds into the video, with Vanessa the obvious heart of the party. It's all make-believe for Cash Madame, who has more dough than time to figure out how best to spend it. So, unlimited fun is to be had, day into night, without a worry, or hurry. And the fun images that float to-and-fro before our very own eyes are indeed fun to watch. A black 'dame' in flowing blonde hair, her curves all in the right places, charmingly all-smiles, sits on that hula-hoop of a thing and precariously swings -- hanging and turning by a "thread" from an invisible ceiling -- all to the tunefully 'dutiful' refrain of "Cash Madame". It's all a thing! Eye-catching, almost still-images of all the goings-on leave a lasting impression of hauteness, cat-like coolness and all-round fashionista demeanor. It's like Cash Madame and her friends were all out for a weekend splash on select photo-shoot locations downtown. We're let in on the act after the fact.
While the video displays considerable creativity, the vocals and the other sounds are not attention-grabbing. They do not soar. They are modest. But they blend well into the bigger scheme of things, and the choreography of ever-shifting feline images is masterful. In the end, what stands out is that; that is, the artistry of body motion cloaked in elegant female voices. I think Cash Madame secures Vanessa's status as the leading African songstress in 2016. She's has had three hits: Niroge, Juu and Cash Madame (Dume Suruali, on the other hand, isn't "so fun"). All this in a year when others dimmed, despite impressions: Yemi Alade (despite much activity), Tiwa Savage, Seyi Shay, Simi, D'ija and Skalled. More broadly, there was limited evidence of top-notch diva creativity out of Southern and Eastern Africa. Arguably second to Vanessa in 2016 was Nigeria's electrifying Lola Rae. Uganda's Shebbah also stood out in a consistent and remarkable way.
Diva Vanessa Mdee, from Tanzania, has released a bewitching music video in Swahili titled Niroge -- which literally means "Bewitch Me". Niroge represents a continuation in 2016 of the great burst of pop musicality we've witnessed across sub-Sahara, particularly since 2014. This video has stunning, swirling, non-stop visuals. It's a real treat for the eyes. The dancing girls, low in body fat and high in spirit, populate an ecosystem of playfulness, and dazzling vignettes of liberated color. And all that color seemingly coordinates -- with itself, and with the mirth which becomes it. click to watch the video
The song moves seamlessly and naughtily, unperturbed, through a raft of judgments which (one suspects) the girls know is out there in the packed and invisible audience -- sprinkled, so to speak, with curious a(u)nts and baffled 'ankles', with pastors perhaps, with old neighbors and schoolmates. And it moves through Time, which, alas, is too short for present purposes -- for this funky collage of fabric and motion and seductive pose, and ad hoc decor, which, while it lasts, no one, I think, no one really wants to cease. Niroge is an allegory of liberation, too, by virtue of which no girl should be afraid to strut her stuff and share her deep feelings -- of love, and about anything else besides. To mix love and life and business. It is likewise a refined statement of artistic presence, however limited the space available for dreams. It is a tribute to a rapidly evolving milieu in which a girl should feel perfectly comfortable and, subtly, in control -- of how she feels. What, ever, she wants to do. Through the lyrics, Vanessa wants to tell us she's not afraid to express, for herself and for all the sisters, this feeling of love that she harbors for her man -- whoever her/his competitors think he/she is. She's a grown girl. As one metric has it: Osepong'. The song is, in the end, an ode to the man. Not everman, but her man. The man, and pillar, of the house. Of her home. So she sings, unabashed:
"Naomba uniroge, Naomba uniroge, Kwani mapenzi matamu!" Upon hearing all this, there are people who will still want to roga Vanessa, regardless of everything. That's how trouble begins in the pot, I tell you.
Here below are the lyrics in full, sung, as you'll hear, in soft, tender tones. She's the bewitching one, in fact:
Tiwa Savage is a leading African Diva from Nigeria. Most of those who have come to know her, I'd like to believe, admire her exceedingly for her talent and her charm, and, certainly at first glance (which is how most of us know most of those we get to know), her uncomplicated persona. With her, I mean to say, what you see is what (you believe) you get. Like all public figures, alas, she must as a matter of course live in and across a multiplicity of milieux.
While we remember her most fondly in songs such as Dorobucci and Gbemileke, things have lately changed so drastically in her personal life that she's been reduced literally to tears. Her marital troubles now overshadow her art -- but, one suspects, not for long. Here, take a look:
Some find all this this unsurprising, in the light of the publicly detected tensions that simmered below the surface even before her lavish wedding in both Nigeria and Dubai to her manager -- Tunji Balogun, aka Tee-Billz -- a couple of years ago. Some saucy, or nasty, epithets have been flung his way!
So what is it? There's all sorts of chatter on social media about all of this. Some think that the answer is in the wind, as blown in this intriguing and artistic song -- "If I start to talk":
But even before that, Tee-Billz was probably seething already, faced with Tiwa's no-holds-barred "Wanted":
I'll not be the judge. You be! Still, it's unfortunate that things have degenerated so drastically as they have, for Tiwa. She's not the cheery self ardent fans across the continent have come to know and invariably expect. She's miserable. May she (she must) return to her earlier self, soonest!
Vanessa Mdee is, right now and without a doubt, the leading Diva in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (where Skalled is someone to really watch). It hasn't always been the case, but it is now. There have been better known singers in her country, Tanzania, but she is The One now. Her stiffest competition in the Diva world should come from Nigeria, but this year her song, Never Ever, has outshone everyone's. Yemi Alade and Tiwa Savage have slipped some. Seyi Shay is still trying and obviously finding her form. D'ija is really rising, but not there at the top quite yet. But Vanessa Mdee fully deserves this year's continental Diva Crown -- and more. Click to Watch the Never Ever Video She has worked very hard to reach where she is now, and the work she's done validates her fame. This year alone she (VM) has been involved in the publication of at least five music videos that I know of: (1) Hawajui (VM) -- an earlier version came out in 2014, (2) Siri (Barnaba ft. VM), (2) Nobody But Me (VM ft. K.O.), (4) Game (Navy Kenzo ft. VM), (5) Never Ever (VM). In doing so, VM has more than succeeded in carrying her fair share of the load called for in what I have previously alluded to as the 50/4 Rule (or the Rule of 200). More on this rule on another occasion. READ: Vanessa Mdee's Bioinfo Never Ever is Vanessa Mdee's latest release, and it is the song that places her fifth overall in Africa's pantheon of Top 40 Pop Artist of 2015. She is the only female in that Top 5. It is a well-deserved ranking, as the video below amply demonstrates. Never Ever, directed by Justin Campos, is a sophisticated music video that's polished in all the ways that matter, and every thinkable way as well. What matters the most is the music, of course, and here Vanessa excels with her silky voice and charming lines. Her band, it seems to me, does her proud -- happily. The visuals matter too, and here Justin Campos offers the eyes a feast of colors and angles and designs which lustily blend diverse materials -- soft, hard and liquid -- into one flowing series of scenes, all revolving around Vanessa's feline mien, with which she in turn goes with the flow. Sound and picture quality are superb. The entire 'set' is polished, in the broadest sense -- and a delight. NOTE: Never Ever was published on October 11, 2015. It had gained 405,780 YouTube views by December 28th, 2015 at 12:50 a.m. (GMT+3).
Skalled is even hotter in My Favorite Song, which was published earlier than Hitsakile, on March 5, 2015. The frenzy in this song is not diminished at all by the fact that it runs for just (for all of) 2:49 (precious) minutes, which is a little more than one minute shorter than the typical single, by my reckoning.
Skalled is both teasing and naughty here, and full of zest. Her act is high-grade. She's just so super talented, and so bubbly and so self-confident. A true African Diva, if you ask me. But, with only 7,182 views so far, she's obviously not getting the attention she deserves from mostly parochial audiences whose tastes continue to be reinforced by equally parochial TV channels in Sub-Sahara.
When did anyone on social media last, or ever, hear M'Pongo Love sing, folks? To all those who've never heard her unforgettable voice, here's a hint of what used to go down -- suavely, all so often -- in a bygone time. With a little swag, perhaps. A golden time before (today's) time. A form of life, before life.
It's not just the vocals that are lovely. As always with Congolese music, it's the blend and the flourish of instrumentation, too. The saxophone and the guitar, in particular.
Here, in Ndaya (somewhat) reloaded, M'Pongo Love sings earnestly, with an innocent's voice, She sings in passionate, undaunted tones of her one love; and of the victory (sure to come), against all public and private odds, of her all-consuming marriage. I hear more yearning, than certain Love. It all sounds (certainly now) a little like optimistic personal testimony, but she is, was (always will be), a socially-constructed diva; a songstress widely admired -- and loved for being loved. Loved, even, for being Love itself/herself. The greater the admiration of her found, perhaps, the farther away one was from Kinshasa, or Kisangani, or wherever else in the Congo she might happen (or be supposed) to be, moment by musical moment. That's how the magical, magnetic, pull of her sort works -- and worked with so much effect in those days of her popular reign, in the era of the radio.
The cities farthest away from her mystified abode -- African cities outside of the Congo (where Lingala, music's language itself, reigned with a blend of near absolutism and dazing, dazzling 'benevolence') -- were the places she had her most ardent admirers, I suppose. And the most intense of these were perhaps the anti-clockwork cities of Nairobi and Dar-Es-Salaam, to the east. All the guys I know that knew 'er voice loved 'er. But she didn't reign alone, being a member of a royal 'clan' of artistes who found themselves, somewhere there beyond a zillion trees of the great rain-forest, inescapably at the heart of something; of a genre. The very heart of what Conrad mistakenly called Darkness.
Ndaya is a lovely proclamation of everlasting love. Deeply felt love. Love felt despite, and even because of, a vexing tide of doubt and gossip and malevolence. A love -- enigmatic, precarious love -- dependent so entirely on The (very) One loved! We can toast to that -- mystery.
PS: YouTube has considerable chatter about this song. Read it and be informed. YouTube views of this song currently stand at 131,830.
PPS: Here, as a 'bonus' offering, is Kapwepwe, another great song by M'Pongo Love:
In Siri ya Penzi, Shaa's engaged in deep, deep (or shall we say lovely, lovely) conversation and mentoring in Kiswahili about Luv's (Penzi's) Secret (Siri). Not one but many Secrets is what I'd say, in fact. Thus: Luv's Secrets, all summed up into one proverbial one. As in the secret(s) -- "of what?" (or, as Kenya's comic, Prof. Bamba, might ask, of "ang'owa?" -- of success. Success in Love and War, and anything else, besides. Proverbial something, alright.
See (hear) how musically rich that language is, out of the tongue n 'libs' of this fine Tanzanian lady? This babe, OK? Sheer poesy! Silky vocals and supple tones. There's rhythm n spirit of the dance every which way we turn. Beauty's all over the place. A fusion of Art and Life, then, all in (sometimes slow) motion. Naija girls beware!
The set is so tastefully and appropriately done. Shaa's the center of attention, of course, dressed up like that in long legs and mo (which c 4 urself), seated on an expensive 'throne', and singing like Queen Diva herself. Those colors!
Her supporting cast of dancers, let's say something about them: They're young and they're beautiful, and know how to dress. And they can dance, and dance, in front of strangers. With a happy, "devil may care" attitude. Some day soon someone'll have to drop a single in praise of Tanzanian girls (and, peace, Kenyan girls, too)!
Forget all that fine twerking you're seeing in the video, or go with the flow of the moment. But, just in case you're wondering how much farther than that they might have gone, here's what they're not showing you in Siri ya Penzi, my broda (so OK?): Bongo Flava: Shaa Sings Sugua Gaga (2014). 1,302,842 YouTube views as of now.
As we conclude: Siri ya Penzi, basi,ni? (What, then, is Love's Secret?). Here's a truly lyrical sample (no translation from me right now):
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ NOTE: I discovered this music video, and watched it for the first time (as I surfed DSTV), only yesterday (October 9, 2015), on Tanzania's Bongo TV (DSTV's Channel 160).
