THE SNEAKY WAY BIEN MADE PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA AND UHURU KENYATTA DANCE TO SURA YAKO

Sauti Sol lead singer Bien Aime Baraza has disclosed how they managed to perform at a state dinner graced by former US President Barack Obama and his Kenya counterpart Uhuru Kenyatta in 2015. Obama celebrated his historic trip to Kenya with a little bit of dancing where he joined Sauti Sol and danced to their hit song ‘Sura Yako’.

Speaking during the latest episode of Cleaning The Airwaves (CTA), Bien said he received a call from the late Bruce Odhiambo informing him that President Uhuru would like them (Sauti Sol) to perform at the state dinner. The call from State House forced the band to cancel their show in Rwanda slated for the same day.

“The day we performed I got a call from Bruce Odhiambo saying that the President is request you come to State House and perform at the dinner tonight and on that day, we were supposed to have a show in Rwanda. We cancelled the show in Rwanda and pushed it to the next day so that we can go to that dinner,” said Bien.

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He said that before performing, he talked about the song as he slowly approached the two Head of States after which he requested them to join him for a dance.  “Before we sang Sura Yako, I started explaining what the song was about and the cultural element of the dance that goes together with the song and as I was saying that, I was walking towards where Obama and Uhuru were seated. When I got to where they were, I requested them to join me and help me in dancing to the song.”

Bien also recalled how the bodyguards reacted as he approached Obama who at that time was the most powerful leader in the world. “As I was saying that, I was walking towards where Obama and Uhuru were seated and secret service were going into their coats.” .

Interestingly, Bien said Obama was aware of the song and even talked about it while delivering his speech shortly before the band performed. “Something beautiful that had happened before I even performed the song, Obama had done his speech and he said, ‘Kenyans in America are dancing to Sura Yako’. I didn’t even think he knew what it was maybe it was just written in his speech or maybe he knows,” he added.

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Sauti Sol performed the song and after the show, Bien said, his phone was blowing up with calls from his father and friends forcing him to switch off his phone ahead of their trip to Rwanda, and after the show, he got back home to over 2,000 WhatsApp messages.

“My dad called me like a million times. When left the State House we couldn’t sleep; I was too excited. In the morning we flew to Rwanda for our show. My phone was off the whole weekend until when I came back to Kenya and when I switched it on, I had like 2,000 messages on WhatsApp,” he added.