TOP 5 BANDS IN KENYA

For the love of Kenyan entertainment, and for the love of bands, I’ve listed the top 5 Kenyan bands.

1. SAUTI SOL

Am sure most of you were expecting to see Sauti Sol leading this list failure of which this blog would have faced criticism. These guys are obviously the best in the country. The name sauti is a Swahili word which means voices and the name sol is a Spanish word which means sun so the name implicates “voices of the sun”. Sauti Sol is made up of four all-boy members namely; Bien-Aime Baraza (lead singer), Delvin Mudigi (Singer and drummer), Polycarp Otieno (guitarist) and Willis Chimano (bass singer).

Musically, Sauti Sol have had a long successful journey than I imagined. They are yet to release their third album. All their albums have been a success I must say. Their first album ‘Mwanzo’ had songs like ‘Lazizi’ ‘Java’ and ‘Zosi’ that brought them to the limelight. They then released their second studio album ‘Sol Filosofia’ which also did very well with songs like ‘Coming Home’, ‘Awinja’ which was sang in Luhya, ‘Shukuru’ featuring Tanzania’s AY and my favourite ‘Soma Kijana’. As if that was not enough, Sauti Sol have released some songs out of their third album titled ‘Live and Die in Afrika’ all of which are great hits. For example, ‘Still the one’ that fans sing along to, ‘Sura yako’ got people dancing, ‘Nishike’ got people talking and the latest ‘Nerea’ featuring Kenya’s Amos and Josh that had everyone reminiscing. Their latest hit‘Live and Die in Afrika’ is the best hit I find in the album but what I really love about the nerea song is the openness about abortion and the support of the boy-child  Talking of Amos and Josh, these duo are doing justice to the Kenyan music industry. I almost forgot to mention that ‘Sura yako’ was remixed and this time with Nigeria’s Iyanya. I love the original version though.

Now, 2015 has been a great year for Sauti Sol. They won a number of awards and got nominated in big awards such as Kilimanjaro awards, MTV Africa Music awards and the prestigious BET awards.

Sauti Sol have never let us down from day one and we wish them well. For more about Sauti Sol, visit their website sauti-sol.com.

2.THE BAND H_ART THE BAND

Their ‘Luhya swagg’ is crazy!

H_art as the name suggests is a fuse of art and heart. I bet this band is in most of your playlists.

This band is made up of three gentlemen; Mordecai Kimeu(lead singer), Kenneth Muya(guitarist) and Wachira Gatam(spoken word poet).

With both Mordecai and Wachira having been crowned “Slam Africa Kings”, H_ART’s music is heavily inspired by spoken word poetry. Self taught guitarist Kenchez compliments the rhymes with smooth, danceable tunes and some undeniable Luhya swag. Everywhere H_ART performs, they leave a lasting impression.
As they describe themselves in the Facebook Page

Basically we do art from the heart..we have created a langauge best understood not by the mind…but by the heart.
imagine acoustics, smooth vocals,with a touch of poetry,spoken word, freestyle rap,drama, dance and fashion all blended into one thick pastry of art.

- See more at: http://www.kenyanpoet.com/2014/05/19/h_art-the-band-the-fusion-of-kenyan-spoken-word-poetry-and-music/#sthash.sMEZizE6.dpuf

They met at Kenya National Theatre as actors but later realized they had the same interests leading to the birth of H_art the band in 2013. Their music is a combination of spoken word, poetry, afro-pop and comic. I would summarize that as afro-poetry. What really makes this band stand out is the content of their music which is always the day-to-day happenings of Kenyan citizen. This makes their music relate to the local mwananchi. They also have a great taste of fashion which brands out the band.

With both Mordecai and Wachira having been crowned “Slam Africa Kings”, H_ART’s music is heavily inspired by spoken word poetry. Self taught guitarist Kenchez compliments the rhymes with smooth, danceable tunes and some undeniable Luhya swag. Everywhere H_ART performs, they leave a lasting impression.
As they describe themselves in the Facebook Page

Basically we do art from the heart..we have created a langauge best understood not by the mind…but by the heart.
imagine acoustics, smooth vocals,with a touch of poetry,spoken word, freestyle rap,drama, dance and fashion all blended into one thick pastry of art.

- See more at: http://www.kenyanpoet.com/2014/05/19/h_art-the-band-the-fusion-of-kenyan-spoken-word-poetry-and-music/#sthash.sMEZizE6.dpuf

With both Mordecai and Wachira having been crowned “Slam Africa Kings”, H_ART’s music is heavily inspired by spoken word poetry. Self-taught guitarist Kenchez compliments the rhymes with smooth, danceable tunes and some undeniable Luhya swag. Everywhere H_ART performs, they leave a lasting impression.

As they describe themselves in their Facebook page

Basically we do art from the heart. We have created a language best understood not by the mind…but by the heart.
imagine acoustics, smooth vocals, with a touch of poetry, spoken word, freestyle rap, drama, dance and fashion all blended into one thick pastry of art.

With both Mordecai and Wachira having been crowned “Slam Africa Kings”, H_ART’s music is heavily inspired by spoken word poetry. Self taught guitarist Kenchez compliments the rhymes with smooth, danceable tunes and some undeniable Luhya swag. Everywhere H_ART performs, they leave a lasting impression.
As they describe themselves in the Facebook Page

Basically we do art from the heart..we have created a langauge best understood not by the mind…but by the heart.
imagine acoustics, smooth vocals,with a touch of poetry,spoken word, freestyle rap,drama, dance and fashion all blended into one thick pastry of art.

- See more at: http://www.kenyanpoet.com/2014/05/19/h_art-the-band-the-fusion-of-kenyan-spoken-word-poetry-and-music/#sthash.sMEZizE6.dpuf

With both Mordecai and Wachira having been crowned “Slam Africa Kings”, H_ART’s music is heavily inspired by spoken word poetry. Self taught guitarist Kenchez compliments the rhymes with smooth, danceable tunes and some undeniable Luhya swag. Everywhere H_ART performs, they leave a lasting impression.
As they describe themselves in the Facebook Page

Basically we do art from the heart..we have created a langauge best understood not by the mind…but by the heart.
imagine acoustics, smooth vocals,with a touch of poetry,spoken word, freestyle rap,drama, dance and fashion all blended into one thick pastry of art.

- See more at: http://www.kenyanpoet.com/2014/05/19/h_art-the-band-the-fusion-of-kenyan-spoken-word-poetry-and-music/#sthash.sMEZizE6.dpuf

Their hit single that brought them to limelight is ‘Uliza Kiatu’. Other singles released include ‘Nikikutazama’ ‘Love phobic’ ‘Kalekye’ and ‘Baby love’, all of which are doing great in the local airwaves.
We hope to hear more good music from them





3. YUNASI

Yunasi is the most outgoing Kenyan band I would say. This band is made up of nine men and a French lady.

Formed in 2003, Yunasi came up with their own sound, That Yunasi sound called Sesube. Sesube is a combination of sega, isikuti and benga. Their music is sang in different languages such as Swahili, English, Luo, Kisii, French and Luhya.

Talking of winning awards and nominations both locally and internationally, these guys are the real shit. In 2003, Yunasi was nominated for Kora awards. In 2004 they won a Kisima award. In 2007 they won BBC Next Big Thing award in London. This award had more than 2000 competitors from 88 countries! Their song ‘Ji Opogore’ then bagged an award for US International Songwriting Contest. ‘Ji Opogore’ is Luo meaning ‘The difference of people’

Yunasi also brags of having performed in multiple contries and cities worldwide including Uganda, Thailand, London,Tanzania, Australia, Djibouti, Belgium, Mayotte, Paris, Germany among others.
They recently collaborated with Rabbit in the single ‘Cheza Sesube’ 

More interesting is that they are yet to release a song featuring Frasha and mejja. This is gonna be a hit

4. SARABI BAND

You have probably heard of their songs but dont know them yet. Sarabi band is one of the most patriotic and human-rights-fighter band in Kenya. Sarabi is a Swahili word meaning mirage or imagination in simple English.

This nine-member band was formed in 2005. It consists of one lady and the rest male members namely; Nelson Akelo(lead singer), Haron Waceke(bass and vocals), Antony Kimangi(percussions and vocals), Bernard Oduor(drums and vocals), Adam Mwadam(accoustic guitar and vocals), John Maluni(keyboards), Peter Mbau(guitar and vocals) and the beautiful lady Christabel Were(vocals). John Njau ‘Kamuniu’ was one of the founding members passed away early last year. What a loss!

Getting into their sound, Sarabi sing a blend of traditional benga, afro-beat, raggae, western sound and afro-fusion. Their music was nicknamed ‘Oregorego’. They have released a number of songs such as ‘Toto Africa’ ‘Amandla’ ‘Sheria’ featuring Juliani, ‘Suluhisho’ ‘Tumechoka’ featuring Maji maji, Juliani, Teardrops and Mufasa. My favourite is ‘Nitabaki na nini’ featuring H_art the band, Juliani, Teardrops, Gachagi and Berry. They came up with a song for the First Lady’s Beyond Zero Campaign tittled ‘It has to be Now’ featuring KIU and UNFPA. Their debut album ‘Oyaore’ meaning ‘A new beginning’ was released in 2013.

Sarabi have performed in various countries and cities such as Zanzibar, Uganda, Addis Ababa, Norway, Geneva, Vancouver among others. They also published a book in 2006 tittled Image-In the MDGs. Sarabi band members are also a proud ambassadors of ‘Hands off our Elephants.

As we conclude, let’s have a moment of  silence for the fallen Sarabi member John Njau. May his soul rest in eternal peace.

5. JUST A BAND

Unlike the name suggests, this is not just a band. Just a band was formed in 2003 by three Kenyatta University students at that time. The members are Bill ‘Blinky’ Sellang, Dan Muli and Mbithi Masya. I dont know whether to add Jim Chuchu or not. This is because photographer Chuchu worked with Just a band in a lot of their projects.

Their sound can be described as house, funk, disco band, soul, pop and electronica. They have a number of albums such as ‘Sorry for the delay’ and their first album ‘Scratch to reveal’ Their first single ‘Iwinyo Piny’ got a little airplay but ‘Ha-he’ swept everyone off their feet. This is because a character(Makmende) in their self-directed video got everyone talking. The video went viral internationally making them celebrities overnight. Just a band have a great web and blog presence which has really pushed them. They even got an interview in the famous ‘Sway in the Morning’ and CNN.

Just a band produce their music, video, web and package then promote their music all by themselves. This guys have done a lot of songs than you may think. Some are ‘Huff+Puff’ ‘Thank you’ ‘Doof doof’ ‘Matatizo’ ‘Family ties’ ‘Till we try’ ‘Dunia ina mambo’ featuring Octopizzo, ‘Twende kazi’ ‘Fly hey’ amongs many others.

They have won awards like Kisima and Kora awards. One of their oustanding projects was the BLNRB project that was an electronic music connection between Nairobi and Berlin.

You can visit their great website just-a-band.com.