Longombas to Just A Band: Where are these Kenyan bands now

Piece by: Allen onduru
Exclusives

The Longombas:

The duo made up of Christian Longomba and Lovy Logomba crescendoed in the 2000’s, commanding the airwaves with a flurry of hits.

The duo is most famed for ‘vuta pumz’ and their last hit ‘Queen’.

The Longombas soon after exited the music scene and fell off the public grid after relocating to the USA.

The brother’s surfaced after word got around that Christian Longomba was in dire need of brain surgery which he successfully underwent.

Lovy got saved in 2013 and runs a ministry in Los Angeles, California.

Christian serves as a motivational speaker.

Necessary Noize:

Necessary Noize was a 2000’s giant duo comprising of female MC Nazizi Hirji and veteran dancehall artiste Wyre Kevin.

The group is renown for hits ‘Kenyan Gal, Kenyan Boy’ and ‘Bless my Room’

The group later dissolved after achieving success and Wyre and Nazizi embarked on solo careers.

Nazizi, the most awarded Kenyan musician, hosts a reggae show on Vybez radio having slowed down on her music career.

Wyre monikered the Love Child is still a proactive musician and now manages a record label called ‘Love Child Records’ and has since signed a number of artists.

GidiGidi MajiMaji:

The hip hop duo encompassed Julius Owino monikered MajiMaji and Joseph Oyoo alias GidiGidi.

The duo is most known for its biggest hit ‘unbwogable’ and being signed by South African Record label Gallo.

GidiGidi in a recent interview divulged that the group split as they had achieved their goals and had to pursue other endeavours.

The two both got into radio; GidiGidi hosting a show on Radio Jambo and MajiMaji as the managing director for Ghetto Radio.

Just A Band:

Just A Band is a Kenyan bohemian band comprising of Blinky Bill, Dan Muli and Mbithi Masya.

The seasoned band is famed for its biggest hit ‘Ha-He’ which sparked the ‘Makmende’ wave in what CNN termed as Kenya’s novel viral video.

The band is on hiatus as the members pursue solo projects.

Blinky Bill remains a proactive musician with hits like ‘Mungu Halali’.

Mbithi Masya is a movie director and screenwriter and got married to singer Mayonde.

Dan Muli is an illustrator and animator and is putting together a graphic novel.