Among the first 100 acts to be announced last week for the SXSW 2012 Music Festival is a trio from Nairobi, Kenya, called Just a Band. "Blinky Bill" Sellanga, Dan Muli and Jim Chuchu, who came together as a creative force at Kenyatta University, describe themselves as a "Super-Nerdy African Electronic Music/Art Collective." In true DIY style, they not only write, record and engineer their albums, but also create their videos, packaging and promo items, and maintain a strong web and blog presence.

Their 2009 video for Ha-He, featuring the fictional blaxploitation hero Makmende, was credited as the first viral sensation to emanate from Kenya. As for the sound of Just a Band, Dan Muli told the African entertainment site Jamati.com, "Right now the music clearly shows its influences; house, neo-soul, a touch of punk music and so forth, but hopefully, once all is said and done and we’ve developed our sound into some as-yet-unnamed zone of mad sonic experimentation, it’ll defy genre classifications! As a creative person, you have to choose between delivering what your audience wants, and exploring (i.e. being creative), and you have to strike your own balance." Discover artists from all over the world striving to strike that balance when you register to attend SXSW 2012.

Photo courtesy of Just a Band.