Diamond Platnumz, Sidibe, Phy are guests on Glo-Sponsored CNN African Voices

This week's episode of the Glo-sponsored African Voices on CNN will focus on Tanzania’s music sensation, Diamond Platnumz, and two other emerging African music stars.

Diamond Platnumz, whose real name is Naseeb Abdul Juma, is one of the three artistes featured in this week’s edition of the 30-minute magazine programme. 

The exceptional singer, who is best known for his hit song, "Number One", is believed to be the most loved and decorated Tanzanian artiste at the moment. In 2014, Diamond Platnumz set a new record at the Tanzania Music Awards by winning 7 awards, including Best Male Writer, Best Male Artiste, Best Song Writer and Best Male Entertainer of the Year. He also won the Best Live Act at the 2015 MTV Africa Music Awards as well as Artiste of the Year and Best Male Artiste, East Africa, at the 2015 African Muzik Magazine Awards.

The sponsor of the 30 programme, Globacom, urged viewers to tune in to African Voices on CNN International at 10:30a.m. and 4.30p.m. on Friday to watch the highly entertaining programme. The company said the repeat broadcasts would be shown at 4.30p.m. on Saturday, and at 12.30a.m. and 7.30p.m. on Sunday. There are further repeats at 11.30a.m. on Monday and 5.30a.m. on Tuesday. 

The two others to be featured on the programme are Mao Sidibe of Senegal and Phy Mwihaki Ng'etich of Kenya. Mao Sidibé grew up in Dakar where he started the dancehall crew, “BBC Sound System“.  In 2012, he opened his own music and video production company, Mao Production.  He was nominated by France national radio RFI for their annual African Music awards Prix Découvertes 2015. He is renowned for his mix of reggae, pop and dancehall beat fused with Senegalese traditional drums and instruments.

Phy on her part is a Nairobi-based musician who started singing at a very young age. Her implausible talentbecame noticeable when, at only eight years old, she won the overall number one position at the Kenya Music Festival for the solo classical piece in her age category. In 2011, Phy came together with a group of friends to form PHY AND THE BAND. Their sound was heavily influenced by the Afro/Urban genre.  In 2014, she decided to begin a solo musical journey. Her musical taste is a diverse array of genres and sub-genres with Mali music, India arie, Fena gitu as some of her inspirations in creating what many could only describe as “PHY-music”.