BY FREEMAN MAKOPA TANZANIAN Afro-pop artiste Rayvanny has roped the services of local multi-award-winning contemporary musician Jah Prayzah on the title track of his forthcoming project, Sound from Africa to be released soon. The high riding Rayvanny became popular in his native country in 2016 after the release of his debut song, Kwetu which became a hit and was later nominated for an MTV Africa Music Award in the Breakthrough Act 2016 category. Rayvanny has since bagged several music awards that include AEUSA for Best New Talent, Uganda Entertainment Award for Best African Act, and BET Award for International Viewers’ Choice. Jah Prayzah’s manager Keen Mushapaidze told NewsDay Life & Style yesterday that it has always been a pleasure to collaborate with artistes from other countries and learn other cultures in the process. “Collaborations are important as they help us expand our fan base and also we learn other cultures in the process, so we are glad that we are trying to give our fans the best music everytime,” he said. “We have also been helping other artistes in shaping their careers through collaborations and this time Jah Prayzah has collaborated with Rayvanny.” Mushapaidze said collaboration enabled Zimbabwean music to be known beyond the borders. “We always want to advance our music both locally and internationally and this collaboration will afford us the chance to do so,” he said. “Like any artiste popular in their country, we want to go into Africa and conquer the continent, and Rayvanny can help us achieve that goal.” Mushapaidze said their resolution this year was to give their fans quality music, adding that they would try as much as possible to entertain fans during the COVID-19-induced lockdown. “As part of our resolutions for this year we will continue to work hard as we have been doing all these years and create exciting content for our fans. Although we are under lockdown, music has never stopped circulating so we are promising fans new music to keep them entertained during this period,” he said. Mushapaidze said their investments helped to sustain them during the lockdown and they hoped to further expand their empire if COVID-19 ended. “We have things that we have been doing even before the country’s first lockdown such as our trucking business and other investments and from them we have served some money which is sustaining us to this day,” he said. For now it’s not a secret that business is low for everyone and we are just praying that this will end soon as we are expecting to invest in other areas of interest.” The Kutonga Kwaro singer has continued to break boundaries through collaborating with the continent’s finest musicians such as Nigerian star Davido, Don Jazzy, Diamond Platnumz and South African powerhouse, Mafikizolo. Follow Freeman on Twitter @freemanmakopa