JOSHUAZ

Ever since Iyanya released his Kukere smash hit alongside the now famous Etighi dance moves, every dance-music fanatic both home and abroad have fallen in love with the song. In an interview with Ariya Today, the 2008 Project Fame Winner talked about his hit singleKukere- the gains, his new style of music and lots of other issues.

About the Kukere Song

A lot of people started listening to the song this year but I have released it since 2011. In Calabar language, the title of the song means ‘Do Not Worry’, while on the other hand the dance is called an Etighi dance which has been in existence for a very long time. I travelled home sometime ago, so I just decided to bring it back and put it on the Kukere track.

Why did you change your style of music?

I was more into R&B type of music before for more than four years and with that, I got enough recognition. Looking at the music industry now, for an artiste to be relevant, one has to be versatile. I will cite the example of an artiste like R. Kelly who has ventured into many genres of Music from Hip-Hop, R&B to Classics etc. So I decided to change my kind of music for people to see another brighter side of Iyanya and most importantly, I want to make some more money from doing music.

About The Video of Kukere 

Kukere is my first video in 3 years so I just have to come out with a unique kind of stuff which is different from what people have been seeing over the years. Infusing the African culture which is the dance in it was what I love to see, because doing that gives priority to our culture and tradition here in Nigeria and Africa. This was one of the reasons the video was almost everywhere in Africa. Another success the video recorded was that it garnered over 2 Million viewers on Youtube and it was widely accepted internationally too.

How were you able to get D’ banj on the Remix of Kukere?

It wasn’t difficult to see him and I didn’t have to go through some persons before meeting him which was pretty cool. We met sometime ago and talked about making the remix of the song. From there, we felt an immediate bond of comradeship. We then hooked up later to do our thing in the studio. Very soon the video of the remix will be out and fans out there will be glad to see D’banj do the Kukere dance.

What Next?

I will be releasing my album in some months time which will be mainly Pop and R&B genre of music. I have been working with some artistes like Cabo Snoop and we will shoot the video in Angola soon. I’m also working with Mr Mister May D and some other artistes. As for my fans, expect nothing less from me.