Akana Songs releases new single
Rwantsana village-born artist Anga Nomyayi released a single recently, titled Amatyala, which he describes as easy listening, traditional igwijo music.
Nomyayi, whose stage name is Akana Songs, is a Tarkastad teacher.
He also has a degree in performing arts from the South West Gauteng College.
The talented artist has a background in African jazz music, and has performed around the country.
Speaking to The Rep, he said his stage name came about after a friend kept on teasing him when people commented on his beautiful voice.
“He would tease me and say even though I have a beautiful voice I don’t have a song [akana ngoma in IsiXhosa].
“I decided to use that as my stage name,” he said.
Nomyayi said while living in Johannesburg, he played for several jazz bands and later joined the Modeli Jazz Band, owned by former professional boxer Duke Moledi.
“While I was with the band, we performed in a number of provinces.
“The highlights of my career were in 2013 where I performed at a cultural festival in Cape Town and opened for famous artists such as Amanda Black, Sjava and Jaziel Brothers, to name a few,” he said.
Nomyayi said he released his new single a few weeks ago and would release his second single in December.
“In 2017, I decided to stop music after we were hijacked and they took all my music equipment in Cape Town.
“I left Cape Town in 2018 and decided to come back and I did my Bachelor of education at Walter Sisulu University of Technology,” he said.
After completing his studies, he got a job in Tarkastad which has helped him finance his music career.
“I decided to come back to music since I am in control of financing my career and I am not depending on other people to take me around,” he said.
He said music had always been his passion and he encouraged other musicians not to depend on other people for their careers.
“I started working on the song in the past few weeks and I had to travel to East London to record the single.
“My song can be found on all the online platforms and people can even check it out on YouTube,” he said.
When asked why he chose an igwijo song as his first single, Nomyayi said the genre was simple and easy to listen to and understand.
“I did not want people to be confused about who is singing the song and to struggle with the lyrics.
“This song is not difficult for music lovers and it is easy to understand,” he said.
He is now busy working on his single which he aims to release in December.
“The single is titled Mayibongwe Inkosi.
“It is a nice song and I promise people will love this too,” he said.