Elani. An Afro-pop band that blew up circa 2013 with a club banger that incredibly swept away dance floors,thrusting the threesome into instant fame and popularity. Jana Usiku,Elani’s first commercial release was certified an instant success – a groovy beat,stirring vocals,lively tempo and a colorful video that immediately hooked Kenyans and launched the singers to national fame.
But despite the fact that this was the group’s first ever commercial single,released on radio,the band had not just met ; they’d been together for more than five years,writing,performing,strategizing,composing,creating.
They trio,comprising of Wambui Ngugi, Brian Chweya and Maureen Kunga, met in 2008 at the famous Alliance Francaise,the city hub of creativity and nascent dreams.
Couple years later,they delved into their musical passions seriously and ended up becoming a smash band in 2013,releasing successful hit after successful hit,and an album too and playing at a sold-out concert that saw thousands of their fans jam the Impala Grounds to watch these viral superstars masterfully do their thing in a euphoric concert that stamped out their unquestionable victory over the rough terrains of music.
All was going great for Elani – massive popularity,instant smash hits,widespread media coverage,a sizzling album,you name it.
But before all of that,this was a niche band that wasn’t exactly what would be called mainstream – in fact,prior to their massive success,their record label dropped them citing a lack of any financial gain that would ever be realized from the trio.
Spiritedly,the band moved from playing at small venues for small crowds to throwing massive knockout performances across the City.
At the height of their popularity,they also dropped even more successful singles- Barua ya Dunia,Milele and Kookoo. But it was Kookoo that made them legends,with the song not just enjoying unprecedented airplay but also breaking download records and amassing a staggering one million plus views on YouTube.
Not a mean feat for a fresh Kenyan band.
The success wouldn’t last long however and the trio quickly fell off the radar,held off recording more material and quite literally,disappeared from the musical scene all together.
They would later emerge to provide a rather flimsy excuse as to why they had disappeared from the musical map – blaming it all on MSCK,a music board tasked with collecting and distributing revenues for local artists.
Despite the fact that their little YouTube explanation went viral,and tugged at our heartstrings,it was still a silly,childish excuse that didn’t still hold water.
The band lamented about the measly royalties that they received from the unscrupulous copyright board and cried over their struggling finances but that still didn’t explain their absence. It couldn’t explain their absence.
Pop Band,Elani
A section of Kenyans bought their little story and showed up,fist in the air,for the pity party.
The other section of Kenyans dismissed the bollocks,terming it inconsequential and lame.
And then,just around that time,with their notoriety still buzzing,they dropped a single featuring Ugandan dancehall ace Chameleone.
A 40-second snippet of the song,titled My Darling (oh please) was uploaded onto YouTube and fans were encouraged to buy the whole version for as little as Ksh. 30.
People were flummoxed.
Speaking to Showbuzz,a local gossip outlet,Brian Chweya claimed that charging for their new single was not occasioned by the impoverished status that MSCK allegedly plunged them into.
“It was not really because of the MCSK debacle but rather we are looking for different avenues of making revenue from our music and possibly see how this strategy can work. People are buying the song and we are so grateful to our amazing fan base that keeps on supporting our music. You never know how it will pan out; we created this platform for ourselves and it is slowly picking up,” he said.
Still,an implausible explanation. After all,this is band composed of High Court advocates and everything they say must be taken with a pinch of salt.
Let’s not even delve into the small matter for charging a small amount for their small collaboration. Let’s look at the song,for instance.
To be brutally honest,My Darling was an immediate flop. And a total disaster that should never have happened.
Chameleone didn’t show up with his A-game. The beat was rather bland and recycled,the vocals were great,all right,but the whole effort left a bad taste in the mouth.
The song never became the smash hit they wanted it to be. The video,which was an overall disappointment finally,also took too long to be finally released and I won’t even get into the guy who directed it. Or asked the trio to wear all black.
The whole Chameleone /Elani affair was a train wreck; an effort that wasn’t worth undertaking.
The song plummeted. And no one remembers it – or dances to it today.
Unlike Chameleone’s work with Leila Kayondo on the smash hit Relaxing,his work with Elani just tanked. They just couldn’t gel,their styles couldn’t match,their vocals overrode each other,the beat didn’t match Elani’s sound and the message,oh the message,was absolute gibberish.
Undaunted,Elani quickly jumped to bed with Jaguar,a man more renown for his flashy cars,endless millions and an eternal rivalry with Prezzo than for his musical talent – assuming there is any.
And just like with Chameleone,a man whose style just couldn’t match theirs,at all at all, Elani attempted even more suicide with Jaguar.
Man,for the love of God,you don’t even want to gamble a priced recording session with Jaguar. You just don’t want.
But it happened anyway. And we ended up with Sirudi,an NGO-esque anthem against domestic abuse. Oh,what a novel idea.
Again,the band sounded lost and confused against a backdrop of a severely horrible beat and a Jaguar that pretty much says nothing much – except the usual,annoying Jaguar nuances that you find in all of his songs.
And then their video director,whoever that was,decided to cast Wambui and Brian as the couple in the music video.
Pure disaster.
The message is quickly lost and buried in the lame plot,lackluster acting,poor cast,pathetic storyline,simplistic ending and an overall banal song made to excite a couple honchos at FIDA.
Elani seems to be in a desperate rush to conquer the pop World and to go as mainstream as they can,and it’s certainly not working.
A band renown for such glorious vocals,amazing songwriting,masterful compositions and beautiful melodies is now descending into a dark abyss of lame lyrics,chintzy songs,cheap melodies and forgettable tunes all in an attempt to have cross over appeal,reach more mainstream audiences,gain some street credibility and emerge as major players in the world of pop music.
Which is really not what we know Elani for.
The three bandmates must resist the urge to run allover the place doing shoddy collaborations at the expense of their own superior talent and unique sound.
The beautiful Elani sound has gone. Has died and has been buried.
The sound has been swallowed up by a confused state of mind,bad lyricism,substandard collaborations and a deathly desire to rise again,soar again and conquer the charts again.
Of late,Elani has been losing. Big time.
It’s time the young band went back to their old calling,their old sound,their old style.
Haphazard collabos allover town are killing the trio. And it’s a sad,sad day in music.
Get well soon,Elani.
ng
