Singer, songwriter and local celebrity Anslom Nakikus will be launching his new album ‘Break the barrier’ in April this year. According to the reggae star, it is an opportunity to market his product and himself as a reggae artist.
With issues around the COVID restrictions, Anslom was unable to launch his album overseas and tour the world with the Lucky Dube band in 2020, to help promote his album and himself.
However, the singer is travelling with the team to Dubai to participate in the World Expo 2020 where he feels is an opportunity to market his album on a world stage, while promoting and representing PNG’s diverse culture.
“I really want to thank TPA and the wonderful staff for their support, National Cultural Commissions Executive Director Mr. Steven Kilanda, the PNG Dubai World Expo 2020 Secretariat and a special mention to DataCo for always supporting my journey through music,” said Nakikus.
In an exclusive interview, Anslom said that it was very important for people in PNG to know that he is travelling to Dubai as a means to market himself as a reggae artist.
“Yes I’d love to play Koolex, I’d love to play all these songs but over the years I’ve studied that I’ve done Koolex and I’ve tried to push it overseas but people are not listening to it. This is reality, we love it here but the world is not listening. How can we push it?”
The singer stressed that while the favorites here are not reaching gains on a world stage he will use the product he has already with the “Love Me Again” album in Dubai as it is already on playlist the world over.
“Let me go and promote this so I can try to break some barriers and try to secure some other shows and in doing so and saying so my next album is going to be released in April it’s called ‘Break the barrier’.”
Anslom is currently working on the album with Manu Mugunawa or Toxic Mahn, and Lucky Dube’s engineer Dave Segal in Johannesburg.
The reggae star says the ‘Love Me Again’ album is doing very well in Europe and South America. He thanked TVWAN for helping him shoot the video clips. He added that it is more the quality of the sound and Late Lucky Dube’s style of music that is selling the album.
“So I’m happy to say it’s been played in 115 countries according to Spotify Rap last year. This means the world is listening and they are appreciative and I am getting interviews from overseas. There are a lot of gigs overseas also but because of the COVID restrictions, things are paused. Hopefully and god-willing, everything should go back to normal by this year and I can start doing some tours, of course with the Lucky Dube band and also my band here in PNG.”