Kenyan afro-pop boy band Songoma's 'Party kwa nduthi'

By Tracy Gesare | 8yrs ago | 4 min read

“We take pride in being the freshest band because we would like to believe that we have come up with a style that hasn’t been explored before. We are three different individuals with unique styles and merged them to come up with Songoma Music,” says Fess, a member of the singing trio.

The individuals come from different backgrounds and their music is made up of a mixture of languages including English, Swahili, Kirundi and French.

This, they say, is what sets them apart. They do not lean towards any particular genre but allow themselves to explore without limits.

Inspired by a real life event, Party kwa Nduthi is about enjoying life’s simple pleasure’s with your favourite person. “You could go to a very fancy place but you are not comfortable, and there are times when you are not at the fanciest of places but the company makes every minute worth it,” they all agree.

From their interaction, you can tell they get along together quite well and are close. The trio met at Sauti Academy; a music school run by Penya Africa, class of 2012. Fess, Mwachari and Abishai were doing their solo projects but came together in 2013.

They were, however, on and off because of either one of them being unavailable for one reason or other. Fess was on Tusker Project Fame, he won a recording deal which occupied most of 2013. Mwachari was into acting, jewel designing and worked on a couple of projects with Eric Wainaina. Abishai worked in a studio, producing tracks, including his own. They took it up in 2014 and hit the ground running.

They might appear to have been thrust into the limelight suddenly but they are not new to showbiz. They started out doing shows together at weddings and events to push their name. Around the same time that Abishai was still working in a Studio, he invited Fess and Mwachari to go check the place out. They recorded their first composition and have never looked back since.

Produced by MG, the song did not take long to come to life.

“We had a studio session but we were to record a different song. On the day before, Fess called to give a song idea. He had a chorus ready and I remember it was very catchy. Abishai was already convinced that Party kwa Nduthi was a better song, so they called me telling me to think of a verse,” Mwachari says.

The song must have been written down by fate, even the producer agreed to Party kwa Nduthi being catchy. The powerful guitars in the song were also rehearsed on the same day. Armed with their verses, the trio hit the notes right one take at a time and it all fell together. “We recorded it in a day, in an afternoon actually,” Mwachari says.

The opening lyrics by Fess are a conversation he had with his then date on the phone. They had agreed to meet up but the rains happened and they sought other plans. They used a bodaboda, or Nduthi, to get to the nearest shopping centre.

With the increasing numbers of motorbikes there has come a crop of pimped ones that have music and umbrellas to entice customers. Mwachari and Abishai also recounted their experiences on motorbikes in the lyrics that make the song.

Being the romantics they seem to be, I ask if any of them are seeing anyone and what their Valentine plans are. Abishai says: “I have spent the past two Valentines by myself and I am super-excited about this one. I am hoping for a different experience because from our previous conversations with my girl, they definitely do it differently from what I know, it looks interesting already.”

Mwachari, however, sees it differently. “Love is to be celebrated every day, find something special to celebrate about each other. Valentine’s Day as a day has never been a big deal to me. She is a huge supporter of ours and has always been a fan and is friends with all of us.” Fess is seeing someone but chooses to keep his relationship out of the media.

Party kwa Nduthi is available for download on Mdundo.

We are hoping to release the video in February and a whole lot of shows lined up for us. We are performers and it’s what we love to do,” they say.