Well, if you are wondering what village in Kenya The Villagers Band come from, then you’ll be left scratching your head after you listen to their songs. I can’t remember when I first heard of them, but my first encounter with The Villagers Band came by way of the AFYA ART TRIBE concert that was held at the Tribe Hotel in Nairobi in mid-May. Among the talented artists set to perform was the band, which got to play a number of their hit songs.

Established in 2005, the Nairobi based band comprises of 9 established musicians, including Qqu from the group NIX, and is led by the gifted sogwriter Chris Adwar. The band which is a common feature in the Narobi live music scene has a unique style of music dubbed Begenge - a unique Kenyan sound in which they mix indigenous African grooves and melodies from styles such as benga, makossa, lingala, kwela and mbalax with other forms of urban music found within Africa. Bengenge is coined from benga and genge styles of music, whereby ‘ benga’ represents all artistic and authentically African forms of music and ‘ genge’ represents everything pop and urban.

Of the 15 tracks from their second album, The Nofork Hotel (not to be confused with The Norfolk Hotel), it's impossible to say which of their songs is the best. With the first and last tracks being interludes, the rest are witty songs with amusing lyrics and a theme of both rural and urban love in today’s era of social networking and materialism. The songs also mirror people’s desires to live a better life and the lengths they go to try and achieve all of this. From the boy in ‘Country Girl’, ‘Mr. Walker’, ’Damu Yangu’, ‘Dar es Salaam’ who admires a girl from afar or the guy in ‘ Nofork’ who lies to his wife about where he goes to every morning or the girl in ‘Mercedes Benz’ who wants to get with a celebrity.

One thing that I particularly like about their songs is that they are authentically Kenyan and they don't try to imitate foreign acts. From the way they sing, sometimes in a strong rural accent, to their beats, their originality clearly stands out. It is therefore not a surprise that I would strongly recommend this album without any reservations.

Enjoy The Nofork Hotel, because you will.