India, 15th May 2023- Rema aka Divine Ikubor’s much-hyped three-city debut tour of India kicked off amidst much fanfare and media frenzy. The show which attracted a legion of fans and clocked in a 30,000-plus attendance across three days was a complete sell-out and India’s first hugely successful Afrobeats-focussed tour.
The Mumbai leg of the tour witnessed a surprise act by international star Nora Fatehi who jammed with the global superstar on Guru Randhawa’s ‘Dance Meri Rani’ which is also India’s very first Afrobeats song that has gained colossal success. In Hyderabad Rema spontaneously performed on the Oscar-winning track ‘Naatu Naatu’ from ‘RRR’ whilst in New Delhi he performed with rapper Riaar Saab on ‘Obsessed’.
The Afro-Rave prodigy was quite collaborative and integrated local dialect in his shows by shouting out ‘How’s The Josh’ referring to Vicky Kaushal’s famous dialogue from the Bollywood film ‘Uri’ in New Delhi and ‘Kasa Kai Aamchi Mumbai’ in Mumbai. He also waved the Indian flag as a mark of admiration and respect for the country at the very start of his show.
As part of his India visit the popstar was seen collaborating with and meeting internet superstars like Focussed Indian, Abdu Rozik, Ruhee Dosani, Shiv Thakare, Ali Merchant, and Faisal Shaikh as well as music hitmakers DIVINE and Badshah.
The 23-year-old Nigerian superstar sported on-stage ‘Diffuse 2.0’ outfits by ace couturier and Bollywood’s most loved fashion designer Manish Malhotra who has worked with the likes of Naomi Campbell, Arooj Aftab, Jennifer Aniston, Kate Moss, Jameela Jamil, Paris Hilton, Lilly Singh, Prabal Gurung, and Nick Jonas.
Sujit Tiwari, Director, of Yuvraj Entertainment states, “We managed to pull off one of the biggest shows of recent times despite all the challenges and odds. We have made history by successfully presenting one of India’s first sold-out Afrobeats tours in the Indian sub-continent and are extremely grateful to the government, sponsors, and all partners for their relentless support.”
Jashoda Madhavji, Founder, of Dream N Hustle Media states, “We are extremely grateful to Afrodesh, Jonzing World, Mavin Records and I Love Entertainment for their relentless support on this tour. The artist and his management were incredibly forthcoming and supportive and truly went the extra mile to support all marketing and media initiatives on the debut trek. India is one of Rema’s top priority markets and as a team, we have been able to successfully achieve top-of-the-line placements and features for the artist during his India visit, including strategic collaborations with Manish Malhotra and Nora Fatehi.”
RaOol, Co-Founder, Afrodesh states, “Being from Indian and African heritage myself, to see the incredible success of this tour brings me great personal joy. At Afrodesh, our vision is to combine, celebrate and bring together two of the greatest world civilizations on stage and there could be no better ambassador for our first outing than the Rave Lord himself. We witnessed history with Rema being the first Afrobeats artist to headline a 3-city tour in India. We have exciting new plans in the works but what an incredible way to start this journey!”
The ‘Rema Calm Down India Tour’ was part of the multi-talented artiste and producer’s world tour and saw the rapper and singer-songwriter kicking off his trek with New Delhi on the 12th of May at NSIC Exhibition Ground, followed by Mumbai on 13th May at NSCI Dome and finally wrapping it up in Hyderabad on 14th May at Prism. Opening acts included DIVINE, Edward Maya, Karan Kanchan, Zahrah Khan, Riar Saab, Tsumyoki, Akash Ahuja, Pablo Dutta, Wicked Sunny, Karan Kanchan, UNB MC Panda, Oh! Kalpanik, Kashish Rathore, Van Moon, DRV, Sickflip, DJ KAN-I, KAY-VEE, and DJ Scintillate.
The Rema Calm Down India Tour 2023, an I Love Entertainment IP, was presented and produced by Offline Guys, Yuvraj Entertainment, and Grid Entertainment in collaboration with Afrodesh. All marketing integrations and strategic collaborations for the artist and the tour were managed exclusively by Dream N Hustle Media. The brand partners for the tour were Paytm Insider, Jägermeister India, Grants India, Monkey Shoulder India, Estuary World, Center Fresh India, and Grand Hyatt.
Having cemented his reputation as Nigeria’s ‘Afro-Rave’ warrior, Rema who enjoys a colossal fanbase in India is one of the hottest-selling artists of current times in the Afrobeats genre, having performed a headlining slot at the NBA All-Star Game halftime show. He is the only Nigerian artist to enter the Billboard Top 100 list with ‘Calm Down’ reaching the #6 spot and also making a Guinness World Book record as the first #1 hit on the official MENA chart while his debut album ‘Rave & Roses’ becoming the highest streamed album of all time on Spotify.