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From Fena to Vanessa Mdee, here are 5 of East Africa's newest gems

Swimming

East Africa's newest gems

The entertainment scene around East Africa is abuzz with fresh talent from beautiful women with sultry voices and booty to boot. With the launch of Coke Studio, we saw them in their element and experienced them as performers and musicians. Majority have been snapped up since.

There is a standard in which they carry themselves and have sort of made cliques among themselves. Nothing wrong with that, just that it seems they are setting themselves apart from other artistes and making sure the fans take notice.

Sudanese born Yvonne Darcq came into the scene many years ago as Liz Ogumbo's protégée, she was not known to the public as much as the enviable model. She eventually coined her own path as Liz settled in South Africa.

She started singing solos and sculptured a sexy but classy image for herself.

And the fans wanted to know the new beauty. It was not until she did a collabo with Victoria Kimani, another Kenyan diva, that she now made a permanent mark on our screens with Trace Urban putting their song on play back all day, every day.

Yvonne's reputation has been inundated by rumours of dating a local rapper, but the grace by which she handled it, killed the gossip fast before it could grow its own set of horns.

She was accused by a fellow female artiste of a bar brawl, but such accusations quickly die despite her party girl reputation because Yvonne carries herself in a way that makes one doubt the accuser before you point fingers her direction.

When Victoria Kimani entered the Kenyan music scene, we were reminded of a Nikki Minaj sought of get-up. The scene is populated as it is and Victoria had to make sure she was memorable. Although we know she is Bamboo's sister, that was not her game plan, she wanted a mark as Victoria and she got it.

The purple and blue weaves were her signature hair style with dark lipstick against her chocolate skin. As Kenyans were dragging their feet to fully embrace her to her standards, she quickly jumped ship to Nigeria to remain relevant and is more popular there as she is on Instagram with stylists and another East African hottest female singer Vanessa Mdee. Now all you get if you are lucky is to catch her on TV during an interview.

Vanessa Mdee is no spring chicken when it comes to celebrity status, she first took the stage when she won MTV Vjay Tanzania and got to tour Africa and interview international artists representing MTV.

We however did not know she could sing until Coke Studio unveiled her with an edgy street look and slim body that can make anything look good. She does not look like your regular Tanzanian girl, she is spunky and is ethnic with a modern twist.

Her singing in Swahili is not what we are used to from other Bongo artistes, her English is fluent and polished, it is no wonder she has hosted so many shows on stage and TV. She could be Tanzania's Victoria Kimani, if we were to compare.

Fena Gitu is not your regular girl with a tiny skirt, long weave and pointy stilettoes; she likes her Timberlands and jeans, feminises her style with ankara blazers and scarfs.

She is boyish but does not rub you off in the wrong way, when she sings you do not want her to stop because she controls the mic as if she has been doing it all her life. Most of us were introduced to her during the Coke Studio as well, but she is clearly a voice that lingers in your head long after.

Blogger Joy Kendi is not a musician but she is an artiste in her own right. She has always had a way with people through her photos and blog posts as she seems approachable despite seeming out of most of her fans league. A lot of people can relate to the fact that she seems to be able to afford an affluent lifestyle but is still killing her street looks with thrift fashion from the flea markets.

When she said good bye to the weaves, shaved her hair and coloured it blonde, now girls want to be like her and boys want a piece of her. This separated her from other fashion bloggers making her look ethnic in some sought of way. Her fan base is growing by the day.

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