Sauti Sol’s last group act and chopper ride to stardom

Just three of his handlers, among them Devyne Stephens, the well-respected music executive credited with discovering music greats the likes of Akon, Alicia Keys, Usher, Mariah Carey and dollar-billionaire rappers Jay-Z, Puff Daddy.

The star of the moment then proceeded to Enashipai Resort in Naivasha where he, Stephens and French R&B singer Lynnsha played judges for the Airtel Trace Music Stars Pan-African grand finale that happened on March 28, 2015.

At the top of his game then, Akon’s takeover had the Kenyan showbiz industry on toes. 

It would be the visit that would elevate Sauti Sol into the echelons of riches, transforming them into mega stars and millionaires.

Today, Bien Aime, Savara Mudigi, Polycarp Otieno and Willis Chimano perform their last show together as they part ways. 

As the band looks to take one final bow at Uhuru Gardens, they remain grateful to their unsung hero, Marek Fuchs—their former manager. 

Akon’s visit happened when Sauti Sol had just released Sura Yako, a national hit song that vocalist and music producer Savara Mudigi credits for transforming them into a household name.

Read:‘Alone Together’: Is this the end of Sauti Sol?

They would follow it up with a rather controversial record Nishike that immediately attracted a ban from the government after it was labelled obscene. The ban only made the song popular and Marek takes credit for that.

“Nishike was a different sound from Sura Yako, which made Sauti Sol a household name; it elicited a lot of reaction and despite few moral people trying to cancel out shows, corporate gigs increased. Nishike took us to a whole new level, we were performing every other two days,” Mudigi admitted to Clearing The Airwaves (CTA).

Loss of hiring a chopper changed our lives

On that very weekend that Akon was around, Sauti Sol’s basket was full. That Saturday they had been booked for three shows, which included the Airtel Trace Music Award in Naivasha and the Chase Bank’s Save-a-Mum event at Ngong Road Forest Sanctuary, Nairobi. 

Sauti Sol had also been squeezed into the busy itinerary of Davido, who, at the time, was the top charting Afro beats star, and the band was keen to exploit opportunities for a collaboration. It was a golden opportunity not worth missing.

“We didn’t see ourselves attending all the four events on the same day because of the logistics involved. We wanted to cancel one of them. Then we were naïve and didn’t want to mess up our brand that had just begun attracting the spotlight. This is why I hold our manager of the time (Marek) in high regard because he made me realise scarce mentality is such a bad thing. While we pondered which event to cancel, the manager was thinking of how we could make it to all of them.” 

It was at this point that Marek, for the first time in their lives, entertained Sauti Sol with the idea of hiring a chopper for the rendezvous.

Read:Sauti Sol are now ready to take on the world

“He came up with the idea of hiring a chopper that would get us to all the events and our jaws just dropped. We had never ridden a chopper, let alone hiring one. We thought of how expensive that would be, but the manager had a better idea. He did the maths of all the revenue we were to generate from all the shows vis-à-vis the much it would cost us to hire a chopper. The dent was sizeable of about Sh200,000, which was a lot of money then, but the manager had also thought of the publicity that it would bring.” 

Marek offers a closed smile before revisiting the subject when I meet him at his office on Merchant Square, Nairobi.

The Czech national, who has lived in Kenya for the last 15 years, now runs his company, AfricaCentric Entertainment (ACE), an African talent management, Festival and Brand Agency.

“About the chopper I didn’t have to think hard because it’s something I had already seen. Having lived in Los Angeles for seven years and always interacting with celebrities, I got to see how they moved around. Yes, it did amuse the boys because it wasn’t akin to Kenyan showbiz for celebrities to move like that,” he says.

Fuch adds; “It was the day when we had a big bank show somewhere on Ngong Road. There was another show in the morning, then the same afternoon after the bank show we had another at Jamhuri Sports Grounds. Then after we finished, half an hour later, we were to meet Akon at the Trace Music event in Naivasha. So, I thought of what would get us there in 20 minutes and when I said we are hiring a chopper. Sauti Sol thought I was being ridiculous.

“I reached out to my contacts, made few calls, did the maths of how much we were getting paid for the shows and thought if we lose two, three thousand dollars (Sh300,000–500,000 current exchange rate) for paying for a chopper, we would gain $100,000 (Sh15 million) in PR (public relations) and we would have done all the shows.” 

While it sounded balderdash to Sauti Sol’s ears, Mudigi admits that riding on the chopper eroded their naivety, changed their scope, their clientele and fans as well.

“We honestly didn’t think of it that way because of the scarce mentality we had. Since then, I had a mind shift of how to perceive things. Yes, we lost Sh200,000, did all the gigs, but the PR that came with Sauti Sol riding in a helicopter, the rate card went over the roof. We would give quotations and clients were always worried we would demand a chopper. At this point, we knew we could afford it on our own, but the perception changed, we were able to charge more, we made millions, especially from corporates,” Mudigi confessed.

Marek smiles again.

Read:Sauti Sol: How we made Sh10m during Covid-19 pandemic

“Look, that’s showbiz. People talk about it to this day. Think of a chopper landing close to the stage at the Ngong show with over 10,000 people witnessing the spectacle. We hop in, do two circles around the venue for the fans and off we go to Naivasha and two hours later you see pictures of them with Akon on social media, and even Akon accepts you differently for arriving in a chopper for a show while he didn’t. Such things are very important in this entertainment business,” he says.

Marek maintains: “It’s the lack of such exhibitions, among other factors, making the Kenyan entertainment industry lag behind, leaving those in it whining while their counterparts in Nigeria and Tanzania continue to make impeccable strides.

“It’s not just showbiz but the practicality in doing them which a lot of people don’t consider so much, especially here in Kenya. People complain about Eric (Omondi), Diamond (Platnumz), smack about all their stuff but talk about them all the time because part of entertainment is a bit of controversy and not necessarily being ratchet. You can’t be like everybody else, you can’t be a politician who are the celebrities in Kenya, clearly this is something that has been applied here for a very long time, unlike everywhere else. Look at Kenyan news. The scenario is different elsewhere as close as Tanzania, the first time we visited there about seven years ago, there were six printed tabloids with news of their celebrities, not politicians. It’s the same case in many countries, Kenya is different because we lack a celebrity culture. Look around, it’s not as many celebrities who drive nicer cars as politicians.”

When Marek first landed in Kenya in 2008, it was to visit his mother, who was Czech ambassador to Kenya then. “That was one of the reasons, but I also came here as well with a tech startup relocating from Los Angeles, working there for three years before launching my company, AfricaCentric. It’s around that time between 2011, 2012 that I met them,”

Having been a fan of festivals since his days in the US and South Africa where he lived for almost a decade, he attended a couple of shows by Sauti Sol, who, at the time, were the emerging stars. 

“I have always enjoyed concerts and theatres but was never looking forward to being in the music business,” he says.

But that changed after he met Bien Aime, Savara, Polycarp Otieno and Willis Chimano.

When Sauti Sol’s manager of the time was leaving, relocating to Holland, they reached out to Marek.

“I was hesitant because I had never done this before. I mean, I was in tech and CSR (corporate Social responsibility) and CSV (creating shared values), but they managed to convince me.”

But Sauti Sol had a reason to hinge on Marek. 

Read:Sauti Sol ditches Universal to focus on Sol Generation

“When we first met, it was on one night at one of their gigs at Alliance Francaise and we had a little bit of a bender. It’s the night, I learnt they were going for their first international show in the US. I remember while in the middle of having a few drinks I asked them if they had ever performed in Czech and unknowingly promised them a show there. 

“Days later, I had to call a few of my connections over there and organise for them a few shows. Our second meeting with the boys was when we were going for the Czech show, we had a good time and just connected. That’s when I realised I was very good at organising, establishing and connecting contacts”

When they returned, Marek began managing Sauti Sol as a part time job but would soon realise that unlike the products and services industry, managing talents was a different ball game. 

He was forced to halt building his startup and engulfed himself with establishing Sauti Sol.

“Being a musician is like any other business, it’s just that you are not selling soap but emotions and visuals. Being a practical person, that’s how I looked at Sauti Sol at the beginning and it excited me because I love a business that makes an impact on society; that’s why I did CSRs and CSVs, hence my decision to commit myself to the business.”

Now fully on board, a number of things were a little pained and discombobulated.

“When I agreed to manage them, the first thing I asked was that we set up the business properly. Start Sauti Sol Entertainment, be registered, pay taxes, and because we were going to do a lot of things, I wanted us to make sure we are doing it properly so that when we point a finger somewhere, there is no finger pointing back at us.” 

This basic structure also involved hiring an accountant and a lawyer. The next aspect was to fix Sauti Sol’s image. “At the time I was coming from the US, boy bands weren’t trendy anymore, those were the preserve of the 90s. My idea was we either get neck tattoos or grills or go the sexy direction because the good boy band melodious image wasn’t going to connect with the people and my plan was to grow them outside the Kenyan borders.”

Read:Azimio ‘willing to pay’ Sauti Sol for copyright infringement

From that perspective came their first production, Nishike, which Marek vaunts as Sauti Sol’s first ever proper project.

“It was the first song that we planned things out together. Blurred Lines by Robin Thicke had come out that year, Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus, there was a lot of nudity in those and the records did well. There was also The Wolf of Wall Street movie that came out that year, which was banned in Kenya because of nudity. Because of that, it became the most watched movie here. We analysed all that and decided the direction we were going to take wasn’t tattoos and grills but sensuality,” Marek recalls.

With that blueprint, Sauti Sol and Marek got to work deliberately while strategically planning to replicate the same scenarios in Kenya.

“With the idea, we hit the gym for three months, got ripped, then shot the Nishike video topless highly expecting it to get banned and if it gets banned then everybody would want to see it. That’s exactly what happened and Sauti Sol penetrated Kenya’s borders with streams coming from South Africa and all over Africa. This was the first time we made an immediate step; the brand was on fire and from there on, we approached every project like that. For every song, we had to think of campaigns, PR, branding to ensure people talk about it.” 

It’s also around this time that Sauti Sol’s sexuality became a major concern for many due to their constant bizarre fashion style and trends, including the infamous ‘mosquito net attires’ so much so that they caught the attention of the late Safaricom CEO Bob Collymore.

In a 2017 interview with Sunday Nation’s Buzz magazine, Collymore aired his worries when asked the kind of music he enjoyed.

“My list would not be complete without Sauti Sol. These young men make me so proud, they take their craft seriously, making waves globally. I’d just be happier if they would buy new clothes that don’t have holes in them, and are not so tight,” Collymore advised.

But to Marek and the boys, such reactions were music to their ears. The strategy was to have people always talking about them.

Besides curving an image, Marek and Sauti Sol heavily invested in music videos. “To release one song from production to shooting the video and putting in the media and the PR plan behind it, we would operate in the range of $40,000–60,000 (Sh4 million–6 million).”

Read: Sol Family: Reality-TV but not ratchet and with music

In September 2019, Marek announced he was parting ways with the band after seven years to focus on his abandoned project, AfricaCentric Entertainment, and family.

“I made up my mind while on a tour, my first son was two years old then, now I have two boys and because I’m very hands-on with my kids, that was probably the biggest reason for us parting ways. I remember being on tour a few months when my kid was born and it just didn’t feel right, but I had to hang on a little longer.”

Marek says he hung on a while longer rather than leave immediately his first son was born because his intention was to leave the boys at a good place.

“This was the time when I was growing the company Sauti Sol Entertainment, we now had a booking agent, social media agent, tour manager, social media manager, PR, A&R (artiste and repertoire). We had assembled an entire team to catch more fish.”

Before hanging his boots, Marek made one final push.

Through his contacts, he reached out to international music companies offering 360 music services.

“To push Sauti Sol to international levels, we needed more financial muscle and an international management agency to do that, and this meant sourcing partners the big boys—Sony Music, Universal Music Group, Warner Music and others. At the same time, we started developing Sol Generation because I understood there was kind of a shift that would happen and needed to start looking after ourselves [so that] in case their music stops and they can no longer perform together, then Sol Generation would be making them the money,”

By the time of his departure, Sol Generation was in place launching in March 2019, Sauti Sol had irked a deal by Universal Music, having rejected Warner’s, and had signed to a management agency. 

Immediately after leaving, Marek’s agency, AfricaCentric Entertainment, partnered with Tusker to launch the first Kenya’s beer festival Tusker Oktobafest in 2019, with its fifth edition hosted last Saturday at Ngong Racecourse, Nairobi, attracting a turnout of over 30,000 revellers.

“We also manage talents the likes of Joy Kendi (content creator), Phy (singer), Ferdinard Omanyala (sportman) where we do business development for them,” he says.

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