From Sauti Sol to Solo Soul: Savara’s Not Here for the Charts

Fresh off Sauti Sol’s split, you’d think Savara Mudigi would be chasing hits or leaning on nostalgia. But that’s not the play. Instead, he’s doing something far more radical: deconstructing Kenya’s musical past and reassembling it into a sound that feels boldly futuristic yet, unmistakably rooted.

“I want our folk music to exist in the same universe as Afrobeats, trap, or amapiano,” he says. “We’ve got the rhythms. The stories. The soul. We just need to flip how we present it.” And flip it he has.

His latest track “Sianda” is a case study in sonic disruption; sampling a traditional Luo folk tune, looping in the resonant twang of the nyatiti, and layering it all with contemporary pop textures. The visuals? Bold, celebratory, and defiant. Especially in a culture where beauty standards are still policed, featuring a plus-sized muse was, indeed, political.

Savara calls this his “no-rules season,” but what he's really doing is drafting a blueprint for a new kind of Kenyan soundscape. One that moves away from Western mimicry and dives headfirst into cultural excavation. One that doesn’t just perform Kenya but reimagines it.

“I’m not trying to be a star,” he says. “I’m trying to be a sound.”

This is about ownership of stories, of traditions, of influence. Post-Sauti Sol, Savara is redefining what Kenyan pop can sound like when it’s unapologetically experimental and culturally intentional. Already, the ripples are showing. Young producers are borrowing from ohangla. Gen Z artists are sampling Kikuyu gospel riffs in drill beats. It’s a renaissance, and Savara is sitting comfortably at the control board. His past may be collective, but this future? It's distinctly his, and it sounds like the beginning of something massive.