In a world where celebrated guitarists include Carlos Santana, George Benson and our own Jimmy Dludlu, it is hard to be Kunle Ayo. That said, you cannot ignore that the Nigerian Johannesburg-based musician is an influential force on the local music scene. With five albums under his belt, a Kora and a Channel O award and a pending Metro FM nomination, Ayo is in a happy place. And it should come as no surprise since his last name stands for “joy” in his native language, Yoruba.

Ayo’s latest reason to be joyful is his newest offering, Best of Both Worlds, which has done well on the airwaves in the short time it has been available.

“Every album is about capturing moments in life. On this album I reached a point where I did not want to bother about sales; instead the focus was on making music I love,” he said.

Best of Both Worlds sounds like a title where two artists from different genres meet and trade skills on an album. Think R Kelly and Jay-Z’s 2002 collaboration of the same title.

But Ayo’s album is a solo effort and he has an interesting take on how he named it.

“The album has a few covers and some original songs as well. So I am giving my best efforts to both – my stuff and that which has been done before,” he said.

Apart from his original works Ayo has taken some famous African songs and re-arranged them, stripping the vocals and breathing acoustics into them.

“I played Oliver Mtukudzi’s Todini on a certain project I was working on and the people went really crazy and it got me thinking about doing something with my interpretations of other existing songs,” he explained.

Apart from Todini, Ayo did a great job on fellow countryman D’Banj’s hit track Fall In Love which he discovered was a hit in Nigeria every time he played it.

“After re-arranging it and doing a few gigs in Nigeria I realised people loved my version too so I added it on the album,” explained the guitarist who started strumming at 20.

If you know your music you will realise there is nothing unique about one artist doing a song done by another. Of late even international stars, mostly has-beens, have been churning out cover albums. From Boyz II Men, Chris de Burg, Babyface, Rod Stewart to Craig David, cover songs seem to be the in-thing. You will be forgiven for thinking these artists are running out of ideas and cashing in on already-loved songs, a notion Ayo disagrees with.

“When I hear a George Benson or John Legend cover, I am not really thinking about who did the song first, but about how they are really celebrating the art of songwriting and performance. It is not a case of trying to out-do the original artist, instead it is about saying to the original singer of a song: ‘You know what? I love your work so much I had to do it again, with my own interpretation,” he said.

Best of Both Worlds is now available at music stores.

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