Sauti Sol is a Kenyan Afropop boy band established 18 years ago in Nairobi by four talented and passionate artists who gave it their all. The group has stood the test of time to become one of the most successful African bands conquering not only Kenya but Africa as a whole.
In the history of music and especially in the digital era very few bands have survived together for more than five years but the Kenyan boys now men have been with each other for 18 years.
The group has seen each other through thick and thin and after years of great success the group officially announced their break up as a band. In our feature, we take a look at the successful journey of Sauti Sol from a cappella band to a world-celebrated band.
Sauti Sol Career
Sauti Sol came into existence in 2005 but at the time the band was known as Voices in the Light, a school band with three members, Bien-Aimé Baraza, Willis Chimano, and Savara Mudigi. The trio were all in the same school in Upper Hills and one thing they had in common was music.
After completing High School they met a fourth member, a guitarist by the name of Polycarp Otieno famously known as “Fancy Fingers.” Following the inclusion of a new member, Sauti Sol was born. Sauti means Sound and Sol means sun in Spanish.
The passionate boys went on and wrote their first song dubbed “Mafunzo ya Dunia” which they would later feature in their first album. In 2006, they came into the limelight after they appeared in a Kenyan Music competition where they landed a deal and got signed by Penya Records which was one of the biggest recording labels at the time.
On August 4th, 2009, the band went the extra mile releasing their first Album titled “Mwanzo” under the Penya Record. Mwanzo did exemplary well in the market with its flagship single titled “Lazizi.”
The album also had other hits including Mafunzo ya Dunia and Blue Uniform. Two years later after releasing the first album, Sauti Sol dropped their second album titled Sol Filosofia on 25th Feb 2011. This marked their breakthrough as it earned the band numerous accolades as well as nominations for different awards.
Still, in 2011, the group pocketed the Kisima Music Awards for their “Coming Home” video which was nominated for the Best Music Video. On top of that, the group went on to win the Best Fusion Artist/Group of the Year Award.
Sauti Sol Breakthrough
Sauti Sol’s name began growing bigger in 2012 when they released their extended play (EP) in collaboration with a South African producer. The EP produced a hit dubbed “Range Rover” the hit went on to become a national anthem. The boys also got the opportunity to shoot the video of the song outside Kenya shooting it in Hembrug in Zaandam, Netherlands.
Another hit from the EP was Gentleman featuring P-Unit which earned them a nomination for the “Teeniez’ Group” award at the 2012 Chaguo la Teeniez Awards but they lost it to a then-known group dubbed Camp Mulla. Still, in 2012, they were nominated and won the Most Gifted East African award at the 2012 Channel O Music Video Awards.
After dominating the 2012 and 2013 year with banger after banger, in 2014, the group went a little bit far as they entered the controversial world after they released their Nishike music video. The video had what was termed as steamy content and following an uproar in the media, the video was banned from the local media stations.
Despite the set back the ban also increased their popularity outside the country. The same year the band was nominated for the 2014 MTV African Music Award but lost the award to South Africa’s popular group Mafikizolo.
Going International
In November 2015, the group released their third album titled Live and Die in Africa. By this time the band had already conquered the local music market and they were among the top artist in Kenya and East Africa. The album was released under Sauti Sol Entertainment, produced and composed by the group.
Live and Die and Afrika entailed songs like “Sura Yako” which was well received by social media users. The album also had a self-named banger which also did well in the market.
The album was released online and their fans had the opportunity to download the album for free for 48hrs. Within 48hrs, the album had a total of 400,000 downloads.
From Live and Die in Afrika, the group went on and hit the international market releasing their fourth album dubbed Afrikan Sauce in 2019 where they featured some of the greatest artists in Africa including Burna Boy, Yemi Alade, Tiwa Savage, and Patoranking.
From Afrikan Sauce they released Midnight Train in the fall of 2020, the album was initially set to be released in March but the arrival of Covid 19 changed the schedule. The group is also set to release their sixth and last album as a group in 2023 according to their management.
Sauti Sol Break Up
One of the group members usually insists the group has lasted more than many marriages. The group has done everything together and they have formed an unbreakable bond and everything to them revolves around the group as most of their business is under the brand name Sauti Sol
After 18 years of greatness, the band eventually decided to call it a career as a group. According to their letter, the members will now be focusing on their solo projects. Before they call it a career, the band has a long list of cities to perform.
They are set to perform in five cities in the US and then 10 cities in Europe and four in Canada before returning to the country where they are set to perform at Boy II Men on June 10 and 11 in Nairobi. Their last show together will be at Sol Fest in Nairobi on December 16th, 2023.
Even though most of their fans feel like the boys are getting lost by separating but from the look of things the boys have done everything they could have done in the industry.
Sauti Sol Wealth
Sauti Sol as a brand is estimated to be over Ksh 100 million excluding the member’s personal wealth.