Best African songs of 2019 – part 2

20 Dec 2019 - 11:00

Published under the Creative Commons Licence

This is part 2 of Music In Africa's Best African songs of 2019 list. Read part 1 here.

Harmonize, Shan'L, BigTril and Maître Gims.

East Africa

East Africa’s musicians made a good impression this year. Diamond Platnumz (Tanzania), Harmonize (Tanzania), Sauti Sol (Kenya) and BigTril (Uganda) are some of the acts who released top songs in the region. Diamond Platnumz and Harmonize teamed up on the hit ‘Kainama' featuring Burna Boy. The result was an explosion of YouTube views and continuous club rotation.

Afropop band Sauti Sol this year opened for business the Sol Generation record label, whose launch was marked with the release ‘Extravaganza’, a song introducing all its signed artists. ‘Extravaganza’ is proof that collaborations are a fruitful exercise, especially in East Africa where most big releases fall under the ‘collabo’ category. The rumba-driven song features Bensoul, Crystal Asige, Kaskazini and Nviiri the Storyteller.

In Uganda, Big Trill’s ‘Parte After Parte’ became a club banger and made the music charts, with big names like Wizkid, Davido, Olamide, Don Jazzy, Zlatan and US rapper Cardi B sharing the song on social media.

Kainama by Harmonize, Diamond Platnumz and Burna Boy

Extravaganza by Sauti Sol, Bensoul, Crystal Asige, Kaskazini and Nviiri the Storyteller

Parte After Parte by BigTril

That’s For Me by Vanessa Mdee ft. Distruction Boyz, DJ Tira and Prince Bulo

Gutujja by Rema and B2C

Do Dat by John Blaq

Sweet Sensation by Sheebah ft. Orezi

Central Africa

In Central Africa, rising Congolese star Innoss'B featured Diamond Platnumz on the smash hit ‘Yope’. Released in September, the video for the song was sitting on more than 40 million views at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, Congolese rapper Maître Gims gathered more than 70 000 people at the Stade de France in Paris. He also released the Décennie album and featured such top hits as ‘Hola Señorita (Maria)’, ‘Dans la cité’ and ‘Reste’.

Rumba sensation Koffi Olomidé returned on the international scene with ‘Pi Pi Pi’ featuring Naza and KeBlack. The video was well-received and is doing well on YouTube.

Gabonese singer Shan'L marked the year by signing a deal with Sony Music Africa. She has also seen success with the song ‘No Gbés Gbés Gbé’. And Cameroonian singer Salatiel was featured on Beyoncé’s The Lion King: The Gift album. 'Anita', his April video, now has more than 6 million views.

Miami Vice by Maître Gims

Yo Pe remix by Innoss'B ft. Diamond Platnumz

Anita by Salatiel

Compliqué by Dadju

La femme de quelqu'un by Singuila ft. Koffi Olomide

C'est Pas Les Gbés Gbés Gbés by Shan'L

Pi Pi Pi by Koffi Olomide ft. Naza and KeBlack

Hello by Mohombi

North Africa

Many listeners living in sub-Saharan Africa are not too familiar with the contemporary music of North Africa, yet the region has some of the biggest artists in terms of streaming numbers and sales. The late Algerian musician Rachid Taha’s album Je suis Africain (I Am African) got a lot of attention more than a year after the artist's death on 12 September 2018.

In November, Egyptian singer Amr Diab became the first Arab musician to be featured on a Times Square billboard in New York by Spotify. According to Spotify, Diab is the most listened-to Arab singer on the streaming platform in the US and Europe. The recognition was part of Spotify's Global Cultures initiative that seeks to promote Arabic music outside the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

T'es où? by Marwa Loud