Ozarii looks to join Afrobeats movement

Up-and-coming reggae artiste Ozarii has a love for foreign languages. His latest fascination is Swahili, mother tongue or as a fluent second language on the east coast of Africa.

On a mission to break barriers since his debut four years ago, Ozarii said he has been experimenting with different ways to capture an international audience. He has found that injecting languages outside of English into his lyrics has been the most effective. Now he's wants to be part of the growing Afrobeats movement.

"The end goal is to be able to communicate and reach more persons and I believe it is a wonderful thing when people can speak in your tongue. There is a level of appreciation that comes from it. I experimented with it in a previous single, Whine Slow: Bailas en mi Cuerpo, and soon realised that the origin of 90 per cent of Spotify streams was Latin America or Spanish-speaking countries. I actually had to learn more of the language to respond to messages on social media from Spanish fans," an excited Ozarii told THE STAR.

The music video for that dancehall single which incorporated Spanish lyrics, amassed little under 500,000 views on YouTube whilst the song dominated in Latin American countries on Spotify, allowing the young artiste to see more than 370,000 streams on the platform across 132 countries worldwide.

Ozarii's plan is to wrap 2022 with a single that will attract more listenership from African countries. That song, titled Lightning, will be released on December 30. Written by Ozarii and produced by McDove Music, the song incorporates the Swahili term 'kukamata umeme' which literally means 'to catch lightning'.

"Now we see where Afrobeats is on the rise, and rising rapidly; I want to be part of that. Unlike some of my fellow dancehall colleagues, I wouldn't say it is replacing dancehall but that it is an accessory for it. I want to be understood by our brothers and sisters in Africa," he said.

"For years, dancehall and reggae songs written and recorded in English have earned global acceptance, but can you imagine someone in Tanzania listening and hearing 'kukamata umeme'? He or she would feel immediately that we are trying to connect."

Ozarii hailed the current crop of Afrobeats artistes who have emerged over the past two years for the quality of music and presentation. He said that the majority of songs he has been hearing is mixed, mastered and marketed properly, a quality he wants his own catalogue to be recognised for.

"A lot of our dancehall nowadays is dark and unappealing, sad to say and our music has changed not for the better but for the worst, going backwards. If Afrobeats is going forward, I want to be in that group moving forward. Afrobeats is packaged properly structured, something that dancehall has not been able to pick up on. I don't want to just buss, I want to expand and keep ascending at the level that artistes like Shaggy and Sean Paul have ascended," Ozarii said.

"I'm very strategic when it comes on to recording my music. I really watched the stats from my other singles and used that to produce Lightning, and another titled Something Beautiful, which I'll release next year. The use of different languages will not stop at Spanish and Swahili. And although I experiment with other languages and sounds, I will still be part of the reggae-dancehall culture and contributing to it. I'm only just getting started in the music industry, and I know I have a long way to go," he continued.