A bare-chested Diamond Platnumz was surprised by his record producers last week when they rocked up at his house with a cake iced with YouTube’s logo to mark a milestone for the Tanzanian pop star.
As he was filmed getting dressed, the 30-year-old was proudly told by his team that he was the first sub-Saharan African singer to get one billion views on his YouTube channel.
Over the last 10 years, the award-winning musician has popularised “bongo flava” – a uniquely Tanzanian offering: romantic melodies with an urban beat, influenced by traditional taarab music from the East African coast.
“Diamond Platnumz is very hard working and has great showmanship,” says DJ Edu, who hosts the weekly pan-African music show This Is Africa for the BBC World Service.
So how big is a billion views on YouTube?
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