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.
