Have good time with Diamond-Koffi duet

HITTING over a million views in just 20 hours, Achii, the newly released Diamond Platnumz-Koffi Olomide hit is now number 1 on trending for music. It went on to rake in over 2 million views four hours later by Friday night. Achii is destined to score big due to the fact both Diamond and Koffi boast of a huge fan base as per views of Haroon Tsumah. Tsumah believes the new release can reach over 100 million views soon.

“The way Diamond subscribers are adding up since the release of the song is overwhelming.” “Two Kings doing what they do best. Salute to the motherland for creating such talents.

This song has that retro sound and feel to it. Takes me back to the late 90s and early 2000s,” commented a viewer signed as kkong 824. Kenyan John Ndegwa said: “Simba is the most crafty and slippery musician, artist in the horn of Africa, very flexible.”

Edwin Naitale has the best description of the Diamond- Koffi collabo: “Afro Bongo music fashion genre of this generation, keep going Africa.” But Joshua Martin points to the excellence in clothing as a key to the beauty of Achii.

“Nice clothes are expensive, and the style of a spiritual man grows throughout the night.” Mentioning Chipolopolo in Achii has added a dimension to the beauty of the Diamond- Koffi collabo and many Zambians have joined the platform to cherish the new release.

“It’s the Chipolopolo for Zambians. Diamond kuchalo. Achii #Chipolopolo I’m happy to hear our national team’s name,” echoed Bonus Libala and Chic Davis who added: “When I heard the word, ‘Chipolopolo’ the first thing that came on my mind is my national soccer team Chipolopolo (Copper Bullets). Much love kutoka Zambia.”

All these projects have received comments from music fans from around the globe. Collectively what the fans point out as a major reason for the music to win huge appeal from multinationals are; African style call and response rhythm, dance and creativity.

One of the music enthusiasts, Watu wa Job echoed on Diamond-Koffi Olomide collabo. “Though I don’t understand Swahili, this song Achii’s captivating visuals, dance, and body language have moved me deeply. The way it resonates with emotions and beats is truly remarkable.

Artistry transcends language and I’m in awe of these two men’s talent. Looking forward to more of your amazing work. Thanks.”

The existence of African culture as a potential ingredient of respect and identity in the music of the new generation and Achii dance has won a global appeal because enhances movement vocabulary. It has been noted that African music cherishes call and response rhythm and all four collabos Diamond has done with Congolese music’s mega starts strictly adhered to that idiom.

It should be noted that from power pop to reggae, from progressive rock to riff rock, from country to R and B, rhythm guitar commands a pre-eminent role in supporting popular music. Rhythm is the seed of all songs, the mother of all riffs, the core of all arrangements and in many cases, the hook that makes the hit happen; yet the solo guitarist gets all the attention as it has seen many of dance music era.

Prior to the recent release, Diamond Platnumz made collaboration with three Congolese artists; Innossy B, Fally Ipupa and Koffi Olomide, all three together raked in over 465 million views worldwide.

Innosy B’s Yope Remix he collaborated with Diamond hit over 208 million views, while Inama, his duet with Fally Ipupa, has drawn over 135 million views and he completed his onslaught with Koffi Olomide to produce Waah which fetched over 122 million views.

This somehow gives a picture of why Koffi Olomide’s styled music has been an edge over the rest of Congolese music idols; Zaiko Langa clan, Wenge Musica, or Viva la Musica as he was seen in all three projects. Koffi Olomide, whose motherland is Kisangani in Eastern Congo, was once labelled a strange Congolese musician with a strange name by the then Zaireans when he made a crossover appeal in the early 1990s upon the release of Papa Bonheur which brought him to global attention.

Did he really play strange music? That could be for the Congolese to query, but not to the music lovers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia where his music was and is well understood and adored today as it retains and maintains the linear notes and subtlety commonly seen in Swahili music and popular beat from Katanga, which in fact seems culturally closer to East Africa and Zambia.

Though Mousokousokou, which Koffi dueted with Papa Wemba remains a guiding rhythm, in Achii it is a calland- response rhythm seen in Koffi Olmide’s Kisanola, his mid-2000s project. In both Waah and Achii, the elements of the Baterera tribe’s dance, Malinga are clearly noted.

To this extent, most of the analysts give Achii a 90-per cent Koffi dominion while giving Diamond a 10- per cent ownership of the song.

There are many notable influences of Koffi Olomide and Quartier Latin projects that put Koffi Olomide in the gallery of great African musicians and that can be mirrored through V12(Andrada), Ultimatum, Loi, and Droit de Veto.

Le grand Mopao, as he is popularly known, Koffi Olomide and his Quartier Latin band seemed to be omnipresent even in two other projects Diamond has collaborated with Innosy B and Fally Ipupa.

The arrival of Achii is posing a challenge to Enjoy by Jux featuring Diamond, a collabo that has dominated the airplay for just two weeks with over 5 million views in 11 days. Also threatened by the arrival of Achii is Selemani released by Mbosso featuring a South African lady,

Chley. In six days Selemani, still in audio, had hit over 60,000 views prior to Achii’s release. Sphesihle Nkosi, known as Chley to her fans, has already won fans in East Africa notably after she helped to brighten Shu released just a month ago by Diamond. Chley, the 17-year-old amapiano vocalist, originally from Daveyton, South Africa, seems to connect South African Amapiano with East African music fans through her melodic voice.

To Africans, Achii has once again helped to cement the long-existing cultural ties between East Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo, but it is the other way around globally.

Achii is poised to elevate the cultural excitement even further, boasting an array of engagements tailored to the artists across proficiency spectrums. Music fans are exhilarated to rekindle East Africa- DR Congo cooperation for yet another year of camaraderie, spirited artistry and regional harmony as DR Congo today is part of the East African Community.

But that is only politically and commercially, close ties in music between East Africa and DR Congo existed for over six decades.

• Miguel Suleyman is a Tanzanian ethnomusicologist based in Dar es Salaam