UGANDAN BORN/SWEDISH-BASED DJ MIKE YANGSTAR, TURNS HIS SIGHTS ON PRODUCING DANCEHALL TRACKS!

Gyptian is looking to expand his fan base in Sweden with a catchy new song called Really Need You which was released there in May. It is produced by DJ Mike Yangstar who is based in Stockholm, that country’s capital.

The Uganda-born Yangstar is head of Nuh Linga, a company that has produced a number of shows featuring dancehall and Afro-beat artists in Stockholm. It will be his third show with Gyptian, but his first as a producer with the Jamaican singjay.

Really Need You, which he describes as a mix of Afro-swing and dancehall, was released in May. Yangstar added that Afro-swing/dancehall is popular in Sweden and gathering steam throughout Europe.

“This kind of sound is hot in Europe, really hot in the streets,” said Yangstar, who has promoted shows in Stockholm with acts such as Bounty Killer, Beenie Man, Munga, Popcaan and I Octane.

Gyptian previously performed in Stockholm in July 2018 alongside Etana.

The 45-year-old Yangstar disclosed that he has been listening to dancehall music since his youth in Uganda.

“It’s in my system,” he said.

Though Sweden has been a strong base for Jamaican music for over 30 years, fans there have a preference for roots-reggae. But in recent years, dancehall has emerged as a serious contender with the genre’s new wave making Swedish pop charts. Several acts have performed on major shows like the Uppsala Reggae Festival.

Sweden’s growing African community, of which DJ Mike Yangstar is a member, has contributed significantly to the rise of Afro-beat in Scandinavia.

That sound emerged from West Africa in the 1970s.