Rema’s Kasa Kai Mumbai wins Mumbaikars’ hearts

Opening with the Indian flag in hand and a ‘Kasa Kai Mumbai’, Nigerian singer Rema aka Divine Ikubor hit the stage as he performed live in Mumbai on Saturday night as part of his ongoing India tour. He kick-started the much-awaited gig with his hit song Are you there? at the DOME, NSCI SVP Stadium in Worli.

Although it was a delayed concert, Rema’s performance was quite literally an electrifying one with pyrotechnic displays, a larger than life-sized teddy bear grooving to his beats and an aesthetically decorated auto rickshaw on stage and with a packed audience. Taking to the stage, the 23-year-old asked the crowd to enjoy what he called the 70-minute performance as “Rema’s party” and “to rave hard for spending their hard-earned money to be here”.

Keeping Mumbaikars on their feet, he belted out a bunch of his hit singles including Divine, Oroma baby, Bounce, Corny, Soundgasm, Dumebi, Woman, Dirty. Covering himself with the Nigerian flag, he also gave a shoutout to his African fans. Performing for the first time in the city and the second show in the country, there were a few notable moments and goof-ups worth noting. Making the gig as interactive as possible, the 23-year-old told the audience that he is “looking out for a girlfriend before leaving Mumbai” and scanned through the crowd to see if anyone fit the bill. He later also addressed the Mumbai audience as Dubai audience and later asked his beloved fans to forgive him. While he tripped once as he climbed up the stairs on stage, he sent the audience into a frenzy as he took off his shirt and threw it to his fans. The Nigerian singer was later joined by actor Nora Fatehi, who shook a leg with the singer on the song Naach Meri Raani.

As he took a break to look at the crowd gathered for him in the audience, he seemed like he was overwhelmed and in awe of Mumbaikars’ energy and love for him. With the crowd chanting “Calm down” from the start of the show, he teased the audience for a bit before he performed his record-breaking track Calm Down on stage.

The night also witnessed performances by other music artistes like DJ Mark and Arya, DJ Odin, DJ Jay, UK-based indie artist Celina Sharma, playback singer Nikita Gandhi, rapper Tsumyoki, singer Zahrah S Khan and Romanian DJ Edward Maya. Much to the excitement, West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle, who was set to make a guest appearance along with collaborator, Indian singer-songwriter Arko Pravo Mukherjee to present a teaser of his new tropical track on stage was missed.

The singer performed in Delhi on Friday night, which was a well-attended affair too.