Has the popular Kenyan musician Tanasha Donna died? A May 2022 Facebook post claims she has.
“Aliyekuwa Mpenzi Wa Diamond TANASHA Kutoka Kenya #AFARIKI,” it reads in Kiswahili.
This loosely translates as: “Diamond’s former lover Tanasha from Kenya #Dies.”
The post includes photos of Donna and her former partner, Tanzanian musician Diamond Platnumz, with the message “RIP TANASHA” and a crying emoji stamped on them. The pair dated for about a year and have a child together.
It also includes a link to YouTube.
Tanasha is known for hits such as La Vie, which has 11 million views on YouTube. Her Instagram account has 3.7 million followers.
Platnumz, real name Nasibu Abdul Juma Issack, is one of Africa’s biggest acts, with nearly 15 million Instagram followers. In 2020 he became the first African musician to reach 1 billion views on YouTube.
Is news of Donna’s death true?
Donna posting on Instagram well after ‘death’
The first red flag is that there have been no mainstream news reports of her death. She’s extremely popular, and the Kenyan media would certainly have reported her passing.
And the link in the post goes to a music video unrelated to either musician. Instead, it’s a video for the song Buga, by a musician named Baraka Oscar. The song appears to be a rather uninspired Kiswahili remake of a hit song of the same name by Nigerian musician Kizz Daniel.
Africa Check looked at Donna’s official verified Instagram account and found that she has been actively posting photos, most recently on 11 July.
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