The stage is set for an exciting showdown at the Tanzania Music Awards (TMA) in Dar es Salaam, as top Bongo Flava artists gear up to compete for prestigious titles. The nominations, unveiled today, highlight major contenders like Diamond Platnumz, AliKiba, Marioo, Harmonize, and Jay Melody, all competing for the Best Male Artist award in the third TMA since its revival.

In a recent update, the organizers have announced only three categories so far. The remaining nominees and categories will be announced through digital platforms in the coming days.


“Starting today, we will announce additional nominees across various categories, with the final announcement scheduled for Tuesday, September 3, at 8:00 PM. This will be followed by three weeks of public voting, which will start the same day at 11:00 PM,” stated Christine Mosha.

Mosha highlighted their commitment to transparency, mentioning that the public voting process will be supervised by the audit firm Innovex.

David Minja, speaking earlier, noted that the nomination process included a detailed review of over 1,400 entries from artists across various categories.

“Our goal is to establish the Tanzania Music Awards (TMA) as the premier music event in Africa and beyond,” said Mr. Minja.


The Tanzania Music Awards (TMA) have revealed two new categories in addition to Best Male Artist: Best Taarab Song of the Year and Best International Song. The nominees for the Best Taarab Song category are Malkia Layla Rashid, Amina Kidevu, Mwinyi Mkuu, Mwasiti Mbwana, and Salha. The selection of these nominees was based on data from radio airplay, streaming platforms, and other metrics to ensure a comprehensive evaluation of the year's top performances.

The awards are being held for the 19th time; they were first presented in 1999 and resumed in 2021 after a break caused by organizational and financial difficulties in 2014.

During that period the award was under several sponsorships including Serengeti promotion, he Look Company (Dar es Salaam Awards) Dandu Planets, TBL Ltd- 2003 - 2014 (Kilimanjaro Music Awards and now the Tanzania Music Awards (TMA)