Musician artist and record producer Musa Keys performs at the Smirnoff Storm Room at Ultra South Africa in Johannesburg on Saturday. Picture: Supplied
South African producer and hitmaker Musa Keys is confident that his homecoming festival, the Detty December - which had to be cancelled at the last minute last year, will "definitely“ take place this year.
The ‘Selema (Po Po)’ hitmaker, who is originally from Limpopo, has positioned the concert as a homecoming festival.
The event was meant to take place at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane. Musa Keys, whose real name is Musa Makamu, had to pull the plug on the stadium show last year.
“I’m getting more sponsors this year, so I’m definitely going to do it,” Musa Keys told IOL Entertainment.
Musa Keys and his team had attempted to fund the entire project out of their own pocket, but he now admits that it was a huge financial burden and they had to cull the event.
“At some point I think we ran out of funds, we did not want to risk, we could still have gone on. We already had like R1 million just out of ticket sales.
“We knew we had the money, but we didn't want to compromise production and not have a show that compliments my brand.
The amaPiano star announced that he would be hosting the festival-style concert in the perfect promotional video, his family in Limpopo asking him when he is coming home.
He later announced his plans of filling up the 35 000 seater stadium.
But big dreams are expensive.
“I’m not just trying to get people in a stadium and perform and have a normal set up. I want to have the best stage, I want to have the best production and unfortunately those things are super expensive.
“My stage alone was around R6 million, which tells you about the kind of show I want to bring and it’s a stadium, I have to do it right.”
Award-winning hip-hop artist Cassper Nyovest himself has previously opened up about the financial strain of hosting his ‘Fill Up’ stadium concerts.
The musician is excited though to bring it back this year, he is motivated and driven to bring the festival to his fans for the “culture”.
Musa Keys’ collaboration with Davido on the global smash hit ‘Unavailable’ earned him his first Grammy nomination for “Best African Music Performance”.
News of the Grammy nomination sent Keys’ streams sky skyrocketing by 83% on Spotify, with searches for his name jumping a staggering 315% in a single day, the highest among all the nominated artists.
Davido and Keys lost out on the Grammy to fellow South African Tyla for her viral smash hit ‘Water’.
Musa Keys attended the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles and he says he had an amazing experience.
“I was amongst the rest of the stars of the world, it was an amazing experience seeing the level of music, the level that people grew up to and I got super inspired.
“If you want to be at the Grammy, you have to be a star. And being a star takes a lot, and it’s not just having nice music out, it takes a lot of hard work.”
Musa Keys’ has always had hopes of winning a Grammy, since he entered the industry his ambitions have been set on clinching one. Through lots of hard work and consistency his aspirations become a reality with the nomination.
“Everything is about working hard and really having goals, and having a story to tell. Sometimes it’s not just about you being a backroom producer, you have a story. What's the reason people should support you,” he motivates artists.
With a Grammy nomination under his belt, a music catalogue filled with hits and being amongst the most booked artists performing at top festivals such as Ultra Music South Africa, Musa Keys’ growth can only go upwards.
IOL Entertainment