Kizz Daniel, buga rhymes and presidential dance steps

Wake up… wake up, collect your money… the voice of producer/singer/songwriter at the opening of Kizz Daniel’s universal anthem, Buga. It started like a joke but became the song of the season and the most shazamed song in the world.

Home-boy Kizz Daniel has been making award winning songs for the longest. But Buga has to be the one that has bedazzled us and placed him on the annals of world music history like never before.

A song of hope for those who work hard. “If I land, I land softly on a sofa floor.… So far so good…ko ni baje…let me see you…, buga won.” An amazing song that set the Commonwealth entry of the Nigerian contingent alive, with everyone joining in. “The song elicits hope, celebrates hardwork and inspires us all to work hard and earn our living.

Then, there is the Buga challenge won by so many and Kizz Daniel, bless his heart, turning up at weddings of total strangers to energise them. The joyous look on the faces of the bride and groom makes my day each time.

These surprise entries have endeared Kizz Daniel to us all. Cute as a harmless button, a dimpled cheek, Kizz Daniel had won our hearts a long time but now we all flutter about “bugaing” to the delightful tunes of a young Nigerian who won our hearts a long time ago.

The sounds, sing along, hum along tune with a deep message to be proud of one self is infectious… with all of us obeying the command… let me see you go down lo… Buga won. There is also a bit about your haters, what’s my business with a person wey don mad.… Incredible lyrics. Well arranged music, beautiful song with several layers of meanings. Whoever works hard deserves his wages, whoever works hard deserves to enjoy. A truly complete package of a song.

The dance is quite a different thing entirely. You go down low and then pump up your arms in a bow, in a self congratulatory dance. A sight for-sore eyes. On social media, everyone has joined the buga movement.

Carried away by a song so powerful, so meaningful, and even the most serious among us has been washed over by the anthem made in Nigeria by a Nigerian boy, produced by award winning Tekno. On social media the other day, we saw the deputy governor of Kogi State, Onoja, get down to the song in true Buga style. Add this to the dance moves of the President of Liberia, George Weah.

Read also: Buga becomes the most shazamed song in the world

With the world in dire straits and insecurity in our land everyone needs a song of hope that says we will be alright. This song Buga has soothed us from coast to coast around the world, giving us a reason to be.

It has raised the bar for hardworking people everywhere and given us a reason to break into a dance in the middle of a hot afternoon when we feel low. A spirit lifting, happiness inducing song with a dance that is fit for Kings and Queens and for the ordinary citizens like me.

You should see me on the dance floor at a party raising my shoulders and puffing my arms for the typical buga dance or when I am bending low. It’s an amazing sight because, really, I can be shy at public places but buga always gets the tamed person in the room mouthing the song and throwing caution to the wind.

The challenge is infectious and everybody has their own version on social media with dance groups across the world literally reinventing new dance moves for this song. We thought Jerusalema was it until Buga came along.

I walk slowly across a shopping mall in Abuja. The mobile CD seller has his music set on his shoulder, he releases the Buga anthem into the air. Shop keepers and passers-by can’t help themselves, everyone is going down and puffing shoulders and bowing arms. It’s the buga fever all over again.

They can’t help themselves. I am trying to restrain myself and walk dignifiedly to my car. Believe me, if I was not a public figure, I might have joined. As the song reaches a crescendo, with no one watching, I burst a small buga move and skip into my car.

A happy song for too many broken things. Just like a happy song, Buga has seized us all and given us a reason to smile, burst into a dance… we deserve to enjoy it after working hard. I can hear them in London, Brazil, New York and Ghana. A true Nigerian export energising the world. Just like Majek Fashek did at an empty hall in Beijing while Chinese workers set up a tent at the 4th World Women’s Conference in 1995. I was there. It was Send Down the Rain. No one could stop me from dancing.

Thank you Kizz Daniel and Tekno. I swell with pride.