Kenyan ensemble Sauti Sol through their company Sauti Sol Entertainment has become one of two beneficiaries for this year’s Ignite Culture EA programme.
Through Sauti Sol Entertainment the group seeks “to harness African art culture for global consumption. With Africa as the base of their operation, Sauti Sol Entertainment has a focus to reach African communities, particularly the youth, the artistically disenfranchised, and older art consumers.”
The grant will fund their upcoming project dubbed “The Safari Series” which will focus on three key areas – artist development with an interest in young Kenyan musicians, masterclasses for music industry professionals, and visual production programs for musicians and animators.
According to the brief, the artists’ development program is meant “to take young Kenyan artists from aspiring musicians to professionalisation through developing skills, building brand equity, and access to new physical and digital markets.”
As fans of the group will know, Kenyan musicians Bensoul and Nviiri are beneficiaries of the group’s mentorship having been a part of the group’s label Sol Generation.
The project will also conduct visual production programs in which select artists from the artists’ development program will benefit from the production of a documentary and music videos.
“Simultaneously, novice animators will be incubated to grow their skills under the guidance of industry experts in an effort to roll out animation projects under Sol Kids — an affiliate of Sauti Sol Entertainment that focuses on Educating kids on African culture,” according to the project outline.
Additionally, the group will also develop a series of masterclasses to help professionals in songwriting, production, artist management, legal, and marketing for the music industry.
In May, the group announced that they would be taking an indefinite break from working as a group.
“While the indefinite hiatus marks the end of a specific chapter, it also represents a new beginning for Sauti Sol,” the group said at the time.
This new project provides insight into the group’s next steps.
