East Africa stand up! The acclaimed Tanzanian music group Yamoto Band of the hit song “Nitakupwelepweta” is in Nairobi courtesy of Africa’s biggest non-competitive music show: Coke Studio Africa. They will make their debut on the show this year, paired with Ethiopian hip hop artiste Lij Michael, famed for the song “Zaraye yehun nege”, another first-timer on the upcoming fourth season.
The artistes, expected to put together seamless sounds of bongo and the best of Ethiopian hip hop, will collaborate on songs produced by France-based producer DSK (originally from Ivory Coast). Speaking on their grand debut, Enock Bella of Yamoto Band said, “I appreciate Coke Studio Africa for believing in us by giving us an opportunity to feature on the show, and showcase our music at this early stage of our musical career. We are ecstatic to work with Lij Michael and looking forward to fusing bongo flava with genres from Ethiopia,” adding, “The studio and production is at a larger scale than anything we have ever worked on before and for that we are excited!”
Lij Michael also praised Coke Studio Africa citing that the music and cultural exchange between him and Yamoto Band has been amazing. Revealing what fans should expect to discover, he said, “The beat producer DSK gave us at the studio sounds like the Tanzanian cultural beat and at the same time I found my country’s [authentic Ethiopian] beat. [When the show premieres], expect a great performance – it is going to be fire!”
Yamoto Band and Lij Michael will be taking over the Coca-Cola Facebook Page Live from 2 p.m. tomorrow Thursday (1st Sept) from 2 p.m. Don’t miss to catch the live broadcast! They will also respond to your questions on their musical journey. Tweet @CocaColaAfrica your questions using the hashtags: #AskYamotoBand #AskLijMichael #CokeStudioAfrica.
DSK is among the top African producers on the show this season tasked to engineer music fusions from various top African artistes selected from more than 11 countries. Others include Madtraxx (Kenya), Bushingtone (Uganda), Masterkraft (Nigeria), Chopstix (Nigeria) and Maphorisa (South Africa).
