This week’s cultural docket reads like a cross section of modern show business: family news, a disruptive chart moment and a concert expected to pack out one of Kigali’s prime venues.
Excerpt:
Eddy Kenzo and Phiona Nyamutoro welcome baby girl
Singer Eddy Kenzo and Uganda’s State Minister for Energy and Mineral Development Phiona Nyamutoro are celebrating the arrival of a baby girl, their second child together.
News of the birth broke early Tuesday, drawing congratulatory messages from fans and friends across social media.
The new baby adds another chapter to a relationship that has remained closely watched in Uganda’s entertainment and public life circles. The couple welcomed their first child before their official marriage, and the latest arrival means Kenzo now has four publicly known children.
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He shares two children with Nyamutoro, a boy and a girl, one daughter, Amaal Musuuza, with singer Rema Namakula and another child, Maya Musuuza, from a previous relationship with Tracy Nabatanzi.
Sources close to the family said both the mother and the newborn are in good health.
Elvin Cena’s AI track tops Billboard Afrobeat chart
Rwandan musician Elvin Cena, 21, has made headlines after his AI-generated track "Let Me Be,” released under the name The Second Voice, rose to the top of the Billboard 50 Afrobeat Songs chart in the United States.
It is the first time a song created with artificial intelligence has reached No. 1 on that chart.
Artificial intelligence refers to software that can generate music, images, text or other content by learning patterns from existing data. In this case, the song was made with the help of AI tools rather than through a traditional studio-only process.
That has made the achievement remarkable to some listeners and troubling to others.
"Let Me Be” climbed past songs by Tyla, Moliy and Asake and DJ Snake, all of whom have strong followings across the continent and beyond.
The track has also become a streaming success, amassing more than 28 million plays on Spotify, while the AI artist behind it has more than 2.4 million monthly listeners.
Cena’s own Spotify account, by contrast, has about 13,000 monthly listeners.
That gap has fed the conversation around authorship, credit and the fast-moving role of AI in music. Cena has been making music since 2020 but has yet to break fully into the industry on his own terms.
The success of "Let Me Be” has turned him into a new name to watch, even as some critics question whether an AI-assisted project should be standing beside records made entirely by human performers.
His follow-up track, "Don’t Leave,” has also passed 900,000 Spotify streams in two months, showing that interest in the project has not faded after the first hit.
Olamide set for Kigali show during BAL games
Nigerian star Olamide is expected in Kigali for "Party Next Door: BAL Edition” on Saturday, May 30, at Zaria Court. The concert is timed to coincide with the Basketball Africa League, which begins in Kigali on May 22.
The league brings together top basketball clubs from across Africa and tends to pull in fans, sports visitors and a wider city audience around its host venues.
The concert is being pitched as part of the city’s BAL atmosphere, giving music fans a post-game destination and giving basketball fans another reason to stay out late.
Organizers say the idea is to create a fuller experience around the tournament, with Afrobeat and hip-hop serving as the soundtrack to a week that already has a packed calendar.
Olamide is one of Nigeria’s most influential artistes, rising to prominence with his 2011 debut album, Rapsodi. Over time, he has become known not only as a performer but also as a tastemaker.
He founded YBNL Nation, a music label that has helped launch or support artistes including Fireboy DML, strengthening his role in shaping modern Nigerian pop and street music.