Rayvanny

Rayvanny is Raymond Shaban Mwakyusa, a Tanzanian singer, songwriter and dancer born on 22 August 1993 and raised in Nzovwe, Mbeya. He won a freestyle competition while still at school and joined the group Tip Top Connection in 2012.

He signed to Diamond Platnumz’s WCB Wasafi in 2015, and his first single “Kwetu” (2016) became a hit across East Africa. In 2017 he won the BET Award for Viewers’ Choice Best New International Act, still the only BET win by a Tanzanian artist. “Tetema”, with Diamond, was another huge record, and its 2021 remake “Mama Tetema” with the Colombian star Maluma went gold in the US Latin market. He was also the first Tanzanian act to perform at the MTV EMAs.

He founded his own label, Next Level Music, in 2021, and left WCB in July 2022. His catalogue includes the Flowers EP series, the album Sound from Africa (2021), New Chui (2021) and The Big One (2024). He was also the first Tanzanian artist to pass 100 million streams on Boomplay.