iYA, born Nkhosiyabongwa Dlamini modest of her innate gift of voice Dlamini holds close the passion and love for music. Her voyage on the music road began when she became a member of a band formed with friends which was dubbed; “The Afroctaves”. The group saw great strides and made it to the semi finals in a national competition; T55 Nation Talent Search.
iYa has been nurturing her talent by evoking the lyricist inside her, by virtue of numerous collaborations and hours of studio time.
Simplistic and natural in approach, iYA’s sound is a blend of soul R&B, modern contemporary jazz, urban soul and new age neo soul. She attributes gospel and the 90’s nostalgia.
Though Eswatini is our Mzansi’s closest neighbour, it is worth mentioning that iYA was born and raised in this luxuriously green magical kingdom.
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Fast Forward to 2021 where the world finally started seeing some hope for recovery after the troubling pandemic. iYA releases a new offering titled; “Call Me”.
Call Me inspired by the long distance relationships most couples were forced into during the hard lockdown, this song embodies all the feelings that encapsulated us during this period. Phones were the lifeline of relationships in early 2020 this is what kept the spark alive and offered romance to an otherwise non physical relationship.
“What really struck me as interesting was that when my phone made just the slightest sound, my excitement was almost as strong as when my partner was physically with me. I found that even my ‘girlfriends’ were experiencing the same thing. We got into a natural routine of morning, evening and daytime calls. Texts became a norm and when those texts were few or nonexistent we fell into a state of sadness” says iYA.
Call Me iYA excavates a deeply emotional and soulful blare, she carries the listener to a place of relaxation and profound thought on account of her clever use of lyrics and memorizing vocals. The music production is nothing short of a perfect pairing to her attentive delivery as a songstress. The jazzy bars and euphonious keys twin perfectly with iYA’s concept and melody. Herself and her producer Ndumiso Dlamini carefully takes us on an uncanny mellifluous storyline of crescendos and decrescendos. This is a true case study that observes the diverse talent naturally embedded in Southern Africa.
Call Me is available on all streaming platforms and iYA’s music video is rotating on Mzansi’s most loved music tv channels. The music video storyline does not deter from the impactful message of the song but is rather a simplistic contribution to the song itself which allows the message to remain.
iYA’s music career is certainly one to look out for especially taking into account that this young musician is from the majestic SADC countries. Mzansi definitely extends its support to this young artist as a consequence of South Africa media alignment and opportunity.
“I would like to extend a word of thanks to Ndumiso Dlamini, my friends and family for their words of encouragement. I would also like to thank myself for seeing my goals through and not giving up on myself even when things remained dark, light always seemed to win”