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Kenyan Afro-pop group and MTV Music Africa award winner, Sauti Sol has joined the league of entertainers with their reality show on Showmax.
Titled, Sol Family, the documentary show was created by Eugene Mbugua and offers fans a glimpse into the personal lives of Sauti Sol’s members, Bien, Chimano, Polycarp and Savara, as well as Sol Generation’s Nviiri and Bensoul.
In an exclusive chat, the group shared that they’re looking to “inspire a generation of epic thinkers”, as Savara puts it, by showing them their lives beyond the music and the stardom; their passion in their craft; and their vulnerability and realness.
“It’s not like we’ve set up a scenario and we’re like, ‘Okay act this out’. It’s just realness. We’re talking about our actual lives. We’ve been in the industry for 15 years, and we have so much to talk about, so much to share with the people,” Polycarp explains.
The group also talked about putting together footage amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, and how the show is much more beyond the glam associated with the life of musicians.
“When corona happened and we started making all this content, we didn’t know what we were preparing ourselves for,” Bien says. “All the content we’ve created over the last four months have now started to be put out, and it’s clearly working because people are really connecting with this reality show beyond a glam level.”
Bien also added that the show is not what people expected. “They expected to see cars, partying, those things they associate celebrities with, and now they’re realizing, ‘Polycarp is a husband, Delvo (Savara) is a boyfriend and Sauti Sol is growing up before our eyes…’ The humanity aspect, which people are connecting with in this programme, is what’s actually the fuel for doing more.”
Though, they’re used to being in the spotlight, it wasn’t easy letting in cameras into their lives to capture these vulnerable and personal moments that their fans are resonating with. “We’re used to cameras, yes, but the overwhelming part for me is literally having cameras everywhere, even when you just want to be yourself… but sometimes getting you at those moments is what is key,” Chimano says.
Speaking on being a first-time dad (and the first Sauti Sol member to be a father), Polycarp shared that having a baby is a cocktail of anxiety, excitement and fear sometimes. “You just have to stay positive because there’s mental health and postpartum depression that comes with it. These are some of the things I’d like to talk about to help other dads and dads-to-be.”
Sol Family is showing on Maisha Magic and Showmax.
