Kenyan all boy-band Sauti Sol is an enigma in the Kenyan music scene. Made of Bien Aime Baraza, Willis Chimano, Polycarp Otieno and Delvin Mudigi, the MTV Africa Music Awards winning group seems unstoppable.
However, the success behind this trail-blazing Afro-Pop band has been an effort of combined minds and energies. One of the people who has been influential in the band's rise to global fame is it's manager,
Marek Fuchs.
Though mostly behind the scenes, Marek has been an instrumental pillar in making Sauti Sol the brand it is today. We sat down with him in this tell-all interview to get a glimpse of the entrepreneur he is and as the hand behind the now worldwide brand, Sauti Sol.
The Star: Where were you born and how was your growing up?
Marek: I was born in Brno, Czech Republic. My growing up was fantastic. Both my parents were involved in the anti-regime movement against the communist occupation. My mother worked as a manager in a theater, where I had a short acting career as a child, and my father worked at a publisher and in Czech TV. I had two older siblings, my older brother and sister. When the Velvet revolution came about on the verge of the 1990s, we moved to Prague. My mother went into public service and my father became a top executive in the private sector. One day in early 1995, my mother came with the news that the Foreign Affairs ministry, where she worked, offered her the position of Consul General in Cape Town, South Africa. That is when life took a turn that would eventually land me here in Kenya 14 years later. During this time, we lived in South Africa and the US, where I graduated from UCLA and New York University. In 2008, we moved to Kenya. I am married and currently working on getting kids.
TS: What were you doing before Sauti Sol?
Marek: I've had many jobs and entrepreneurial stints growing up. During university I would work anywhere, from a newsstand selling newspapers and magazines to celebrities in Westwood, Los Angeles, to working as a litigation clerk for law firms. From offering financial services in the housing sector, to raising money for the Los Angeles homeless shelters and social services. From being an acting extra in B-rate Hollywood productions to... tens of jobs basically. It was during this time that I started moving around in the entertainment industry, by managing an amazing painter and a DJ from Detroit, as a hobby. Then in 2007, I ran into a friend starting a mobile company throughout Africa and I took the opportunity to come back to the continent. This took me on an entrepreneurial, private equity roller coaster through countless African countries, until I decided to start my own company, AfricaCentric – focused on social entrepreneurship, green tech and CSV (Creating Shared Value) in 2010. I kept my interest in the arts and frequented pan-African music festivals and exhibitions, where I eventually ran into the likes of Freshlyground, Jojo Abot, Just A Band and Sauti Sol. I decided to start a plan to take some of these acts to Europe and USA for summer festivals. This is how I met Sauti Sol in April 2012.
TS: Do you have previous experience in artiste management?
Marek: My experience at managing artistes was very limited at the time. I only worked with two artistes in Los Angeles prior to this but only as a hobby. However, I did have experience in running businesses. I also lived in two very showbiz and creative cities (Cape Town and Los Angeles) and I knew my way around Africa. Maybe it was this weird mixture that gave me some of the skills to take on Sauti Sol and the entertainment industry.
TS: How did you and Sauti Sol agree to team up?
Marek: We met with the guys at some random event and talked a bit about what I was doing and what my plans were —
to take a few African acts to festivals in Europe and the US. They were interested and so I pitched them to a few festivals. A few months later, we were on the road in Europe, playing at amazing festivals. During this time, they were managed under Penya Africa by a good friend of mine and talent scout, Nynke Nauta. She was leaving Kenya and was looking for someone to take over management of Sauti Sol. After the European tour, when we came back to Kenya, Nynke and Sauti Sol approached me to take on their management. I was a little hesitant at first. However, I decided to come on board as their part-time manager. I realised they had a strong drive and focus that is rare to come by. Afro-Pop wasn't exactly what I was interested in at the time, but I looked at is simply as an entertainment business opportunity in a market that didn't really explore the essence of show business and didn't really appreciate their own contemporary art scene.
TS: How easy or difficult, or challenging has it been?
Marek: The first year was hard, but I didn't mind, though. I was loving every minute of it. I guess that's what happens when you turn your hobbies into your full-time projects. We worked as a team with Sauti Sol. We had the drive and wanted to win. We would spend a lot of time together, planning, scheming, learning and trying, until we began to see the results. Our releases started gaining traction. We started getting bookings and attention from the rest of the continent and beyond. We grew a team around us and focused on running more than just a band; we wanted to build an entertainment business. We focused on building a brand. It wasn't easy, as people didn't see that being a musician could be a respectable form of employment or even less so, a business. There was a stagnant local music scene, mostly made up of old success stories that didn't really connect to the younger demographic. And there was the opportunity we wanted to seize.
TS: As a team, how have you managed to stick together?
Marek: Our team is very passionate about what we do and that shows at our team meetings, agency meetings, production meetings, and so on. We're also continuously under a lot of pressure to maintain and always grow the brand. Be the first to do this and that. Be more popular. Remain number one. This is a lot of pressure. But that's the importance of having a great team. To keep each other in check, to support one another, and we do that well. We're business partners and friends that love their work and working together. So sometimes to outsiders it might seem like we're about to split up or kill each other at a meeting, but in reality Bien and I are just having a small fight over when we should release the next track.
TS: How do you manage and maintain Sauti Sol's international appeal?
Marek: To grow and maintain your international appeal, you need to establish what is unique about you and your brand and explore and execute that on a professional level to an international audience. You have to be informed and knowledgeable about latest trends. You have to produce content that is attractive to more demanding audiences, but at the same time, maintain home appeal. It's a balancing act that you have to get right but there aren't any guidelines.
TS: What's up your sleeves this year?
Marek: This year is going to be manic. We have just launched our third album and now we are preparing a string of tours to promote it. The nationwide tour begins on April 16 in Nakuru and takes us to five other Kenyan cities and towns. Thereafter, to the rest of Africa, Europe, Asia and America. Soon, we are releasing our collaboration with South African house music band MiCasa. We are also focusing a lot more on our social initiative called the Soma Soma Initiative. It seeks to develop a generation of epic thinkers across Africa, through advocating access to quality education for all and cultivating a reading culture among children and youth.
TS: Expound for us the business of artiste management.
Marek: Artiste management is a demanding career. It is something that challenges you every day because it changes every day. Managing an artiste, or any entertainer for that matter, be it in music, visual arts, sports or television, is a job that keeps you on your toes at all times. It is a career that requires one to be conversant in business, strategy, creative thinking, public relations, social media strategy, fashion and entertainment trends, marketing, and so on. It's a challenge but also an opportunity for dreamers and people who are ambitious. Like in any partnership, if the artiste and manager share this vision, drive and work ethic, they will be more likely to succeed and deliver on each other's roles.
TS: Do you have plans to start a talent management company in Kenya?
Marek: Over the years, I have been approached by artistes and personalities in sports, visual arts, television, radio and film for advice and management. What was missing in East Africa is a talent or branding agency that focuses primarily on entertainment. An agency that helps to build brands in the music industry, sports, visual arts, film, radio and TV, and that's my plan for this year. We are also looking at expanding the business into a label, since we already have the structure, contacts and know-how. Overall, exciting times lie ahead.