IN SHORT: Fans of Tanzanian musician Rajab Abdul Kahali, better known as Harmonize, need not worry – claims on Facebook that he has died are false and cruel.
Has popular Tanzanian musician Rajab Abdul Kahali, better known as Harmonize, died? A Facebook post dated 6 March 2023 claims that he has.
“MSANII WA TANZANIA ALMAARUFU #HARMONIZE JESHI #KUFA LEO MCHANA KWA AJALI TAZAMA … NENDA SALAMA #RIP,” it reads in the Kiswahili language widely spoken in Tanzania.
This loosely translates as: “Tanzanian artist Harmonize died today in an accident in Tanzania … Go well #RIP.”
The post also links to a YouTube video and includes a photo collage of a wrecked car, Harmonize and a crying emoji.
Is the claim that Harmonize has died true?
No evidence popular musician is dead
Harmonize is popular in Tanzania and the wider East African region. He has 9.2 million Instagram followers, 3.3 million on Facebook and 3.78 million YouTube subscribers. His death would certainly have been widely reported.
We searched trustworthy media from the region and found no reports of his death.
The link in the post leads to a music video that has nothing to do with Harmonize. Instead, it is a video for a song by the Congolese music group Nzukini Boyz.
We checked Harmonize’s verified Instagram account. He posted TikTok videos of people playing and lip-syncing to his new song Single Again, a few hours after the Facebook post claiming he was dead had been published.
A Google reverse image search of the photo of the wrecked car revealed that it showed an accident involving a Kenyan, not Harmonize.
The wreckage was from an accident on 26 November 2017 involving Kenyan member of parliament Charles Kanyi. The photo has nothing to do with Harmonize.
The Tanzanian musician is not dead. The claim is clickbait, designed to get clicks from anxious fans. These clicks will inflate the number of views of the unrelated music video on YouTube. But death hoaxes can be harmful to the person’s friends, family and fans.
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