Djembe Music Blog

The alté prince, Cruel Santino aka, Santi whose actual name might be a shocker because it has no links with his stage name is Osayaba Andrew Ize-iyamu. He is a Nigerian alté and Afro pop artist who had to change his name from Santi to Cruel Santino in 2020 due to copyright infringements which was as a result of another artist named Santi in Spain.

Santi which he is popularly called, joined the music scene over 10 years ago with a unique voice and visual style and ever since has experienced mind blowing growths in and out of the country. He dropped “Subaru Boys:FINAL HEAVEN” album January this year and he is currently on tour (Subaru World Tour ‘22).

This tour includes countries such as UK, Netherlands and amongst others. But we can’t fail to talk about his sold out show in Paris,France on October 12th.

The 30 year old being part of this movement has never failed to express himself and what exactly the movement entails. According to his take on alté; “There are no boundaries, no definitions -all expression”

This indeed is his perspective of the movement and it can be seen in his album. The album is sci-fi inspired with the aim of representing individuals to own their feelings as well as express it.

Santi has no doubt the ability to recognize the power of visual storytelling and this has played a major role in developing the aesthetic identity of the alté movement.

Next stop on our alté journey is Odunsi the engine.