Ras Nas' World Beats Norwegian tour in October - Ras Nas aka Nasibu Mwanukuzi. Musician and poet from Tanzania

The award winning Ras Nas aka Nasibu Mwanukuzi is a musician and poet from Tanzania living in Oslo, Norway. Ras Nas repertoire is a mixture of reggae and soukous (or rather, muziki wa dansi) with lyrics in both Kiswahili and English. The music is self composed as well as self arranged. Ras Nas’ line-up of musicians seasoned and international. Currently, his band comprises of musicians from Norway, Sweden, Ivory Coast, Congo Brazzaville and USA.

Among his merits is performing for Nelson Mandela and sharing the stage with musical heavyweights such as Van Morrison, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan as well as reggae legends like Linton Kwesi Johnson, I Jah Man and Eek a Mouse, to name but a few. Ras Nas has so far produced three critically acclaimed albums: Cut You Loose (1997), Dar-es-Salaam (2007) and Double Focus (2010). In 2010 he was awarded the Tanzania Red Carpet Award for best solo artist.

Ras Nas has participated in many prestigious festivals and has also toured extensively in Scandinavia. Among the festivals are the Spring Festival 2010 in Cairo and Beirut (Egypt and Lebanon), Norwegian Wood, Oslo World Music Festival, Lahore Performing Arts and Music Festival (Pakistan), Galle International Music Festival (Sri Lanka) and Oslo Mela Festival.

In addition to producing CDs, Ras Nas has also published a collection of poetry “Double Focus” and some of his tracks have appeared in international compilations. One of his poems “Mandela” is used in an educational DVD for High School students in USA and several others have been published in anthologies and magazines around the world.

The song Dar-es-Salaam is also the title track of Ras Nas' latest CD. This video was shot in Dar-es-Salaam and produced by Haak Neel Production for Kongoi Productions.

Dar-es-Salaam live in Oslo feat. Dekula "Vumbi" Kahanga

Guantanamo live video taken from Ras Nas' concert at the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation in Oslo. The song is also featured in Ras Nas' CD "Dar-es-Salaam"

Ras Nas' World Beats Norwegian tour in October

Ras Nas is to tour six towns in Norway in October-November this year bringing reggae and african music closer to a wider Norwegian audience. "It feels good to get a chance to spread the music once again" says Ras Nas aka Nasibu Mwanukuzi whose latest CD "Dar-es-Salaam" has received rave reviews by local as well international music critics. This tour is part of the World Beats concert series arranged by Samspill International Music Network. Kongoi Productions is also one of the sponsors.

Ras Nas, a Tanzanian musician and poet based in Oslo, blends reggae and afropop with a dash of poetry. His lyrics are in both Swahili and English. The tour will include Kongsberg, Drammen, Fredrikstad, Arendal, Oslo and Trondheim.

Ras Nas’ line up consists of musicians from Congo Brazzaville, Ivory Coast, Norway and Sweden.

The tour is organised by Samspill in collaboration with Kongoi Productions. The tour is being supported by Fond for utøvende kunstnere (Fund for performing artists in Norway) and Fond for lyd og bilde

Follow Ras Nas at www.twitter.com/rasnas

Who is Ras Nas?
Ras Nas aka Nasibu Mwanukuzi is an internationally acclaimed musician and poet from Tanzania. His lyrics are in Kiswahili and English. Among his merits is performing for Nelson Mandela and sharing stage with names like Lou Reed, Van Morrison, and Bob Dylan.

Ras Nas plays with musicians from Ivory Coast, Congo, Norway and USA. All based in Oslo, Norway. (Pics by Ellen Stokland)

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