A 20-year-old from Kazakhstan who was working for a state railway company at the time he remixed American-Guyanese rapper SAINt JHN's hit Roses said Monday that he was "so happy" after his Grammy win for the song.

Imanbek Zeikenov, who hails from a village in northern Kazakhstan, received congratulations from President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev after becoming the first citizen from the Central Asian country to win one of music's most prized awards.

Tokayev's office said the win showed that "gifted young people from Kazakhstan can conquer the highest peaks!" 

Zeikenov's sped-up housey version of Roses, the original of which was released in 2016, went viral in the second half of 2019 and topped Billboard's Hot Dance/Electronic Songs chart for 23 weeks last year.   

The remix beat five other nominees in the best remixed recording category, and whilst presenter Lupita Infante struggled with Zeikenov's name, the producer was delighted with the win. 

"Guess why I am so happy?" Zeikenov wrote on Instagram. "Because the Grammy is ours, it's ours!" 

Zeikenov watched the Grammys unfold from Moscow, where his record label Effective Records is based.  

In an interview with Moscow-based radio station Energy FM after his Grammy win, Zeikenov said that he planned to go back to his homeland and enjoy a horsemeat feast with relatives in the village of Aksu. 

"We have this tradition... to butcher a horse and to make" a local dish called kuurdak, he said. 

Speaking to local media in late 2019, Zeikenov said that he had finished work on the track during a weekend in March that year. 

Takeup was initially slow but soared after it was shared in a group with a million users on the social media website VKontakte.

After signing with Effective Records, Zeikenov quit his job as a railway signalman to make music full time in December 2019.

Other successful songs released by Zeikenov under his artist name Imanbek include Take Me with O'Neill, and a remix of Parah Dice's hit Hot.