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Alvin Ndutha (Alvo) and Duncan Kiama (Dunco) met during a church talent search (Talentmania) way back in 2001. "its at the church gate i met dunco, and just from the blues i asked him can you sing and he goes like, yeah. then i was like lets do a song and enter the talent search" says Alvo. "The dancehall/ragga sound was and still is popular in secular social circles but it was a new thing in church. We used a Mr. Vegas melody and wrote our lines over it. It was like kenyanized dancehall. We managed to enter the talent search and for the next 3 years running we won, and that was the beginning of The Chiefs" says Dunco. (can you believe before they settled on this name they had actually considered calling themselves, the butcher and the barber. lol).
Prior to The Chiefs, Dunco was in a high school group called Quest and Alvo was singing in class among friends, mimicking artists like Shabba Ranks, Chaka Demus and Pliers, Supa cat, Patra and the likes. "Back then we were not born again and we did secular rhymes"- alvo. In their early performances they concentrated more on live performances mostly in church gigs. "Getting an original instrumental made in a studio back then was quite expensive and we couldn't afford, but now God has opened doors for that and it is no longer a hassle"- Dunco.
In 2003, they managed to record 3 singles, Mbona mna chill, Ruga Ruga and 1,2 U Ready+video. Ruga Ruga which means (Jump Jump) and 1,2 U Ready managed to hit the local gospel charts. 1,2 U Ready even got a Chaguo La Teenez - 2007 nomination. From the positive response they decided to embark on an album while still doing side projects/collabos. You can hear/see them in songs done by mainstream gospel artists like Rufftone, Daddy Owen, Wernono Family, Gideons Army etc etc.
The Chiefs are part of 2 larger groups i.e. Wernono Family and Gideons Army.
Dunco (Duncan Kiama) is the harmony/melody genius while Alvo (Alvin Ndutha) brings in the tenor verses and hooks. Alvo lays down the drums/bass/string patterns and Dunco brings in the chords when they work on the instrumental. In August 2009 they released their 2in1 20 track album. "The Chiefs Camp" which is a dancehall kind of a record and "Atalaku" which is Dunco's solo project. The 2in1 album touches on various genres from 'kenyanized' reggae,ragga,hiphop,zouk, bongo,kapuka etc etc.
Their music speaks of the Christian day to day life and teachings from the Bible.