Elani (band)

Elani are a Kenyan African pop group from Nairobi. It consists three members; Wambui Ngugi, Brian Chweya and Maureen Kunga. The trio released their debut single"Jana Usiku" in November 2013 that became a great success, creating a pavement on their subsequent singles. In 2014, the trio released numerous singles in the making of their debut album "Barua ya Dunia".
History.
2008 – 12; Band maturity.
Elani met in January 2008 at Alliance Française in Nairobi. Originally consisted of four members; Wambui Ngugi, Maureen Kunga, Brian Chweya and Daniel Kimani. Kimani's departure has never been explained. They became more serious in 2010/2011 when they mutually decided to take their career to the next level.
2013  – present; "Barua ya Dunia".
In 2013, the band released their debut single "Jana Usiku" In March 2014, Elani released their second single "Milele", the song talks about two lovers who live a forbidden passion, thereby the lady's family tries hard to hook her up with a doctor. The video was shot by Sauti Sol's Savara Mudigi in conjunction with Sol Music Entertainment and directed by Enos Olik. In mid 2014, the trio released "Kookoo", a song that was shot in the streets of Nairobi, and is the most successful production the band ever released since it was the most downloaded song in the downloading platforms. As of 16 July 2014, "Kookoo" was ranked second in the respective week's chart just coming right after Bahati's "Barua". The band has also released "hatua", "Zuzu", "Uko Wapi", "Barua ya Dunia" and "Mahindi. In 2016, the band featured Chameleone in their new single "My Darling".
Controversies.
On 12 January 2016, Elani released a statement through their YouTube channel and their other social media platforms, accusing the Music Copyright Society of Kenya of corruption over music royalty disparity. Having paid them KES 31000 for their royalties for television and radio air play. They later stated, that after addressing their complaints to the relevant authorities of the society, Brian, one of the band members was called by the society's offices and paid a compensatory KES 300K, making the motive behind the two payments questionable. MCSK later defended itself stating that all said by the band is not entirely true but accepted the fact that the band was paid peanuts but they (MCSK) later discovered a mistake on their (MCSK) part where they failed to monitor the band's songs for the period dated July 2013 to June 2014. Adding that KES 300K was compensation for the royalties lost within that period for which their song received massive airplay finalizing that that is a common mistake that happens not only to Elani but also other musicians.
Personal Lives.
Maureen Kunga.
Law School graduate(University of Nairobi) and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya
Wambui Ngugi.
Actuarial Science graduate (University of Nairobi) 
Brian Chweya.
Law School graduate(University of Nairobi) and Advocate of the High Court of Kenya