Lupita Nyong’o has been a name on everyone’s lips ever since her role in 12 years a slave, Kenyans having pride in her, black appreciated and celebrated as beautiful. Amidst all those celebrations, the movie reminded us of the abolished slave trade where millions of black slaves labored under harsh conditions under their slave masters and song became one of the ways that they would use to numb the pain of their oppression, the harmonies uniting them in their pain.
Work songs were also common in African cultures the only difference being, the songs were to make work light or to help in coordination where work required more hands. One key difference being that back here, we were not enslaved and needed the songs to make working under the scorching sun a bit bearable.
Fast forward to 2015 and I finally decide to go check out the new ice cream joint in Westlands that everyone keeps talking about. It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and my intention is to sample pizza from their sister pizza joint as well. As I walking in, I’m secretly hoping that the queues will not be Kenyanly long. You see, Kenyans and especially the middle class have this habit of thronging everything during the launch days. I remember the crazy queues when another American imported franchise was launching at the junction. Kenyans queued for hours on end just to have a taste of how kenchic chicken tastes like when deep-fried with a touch of the colonel’s secret spices.
As the well-dressed gentleman opened the door and welcomed me to the ice cream joint, I breathed a sigh of relief seeing the queue was at least manageable and the ordering process pretty straight forward. You choose the ice cream flavor that you want then the magic begins when they mix in the different flavors with your choice of condiments giving you an amalgamation of flavors intent on stimulating all your taste buds. Think of any flavor; they had it! I mean they even had ice cream made out of champagne!! My mind was busy trying to do all the computations of all the flavors that might go well together, and the little tasting spoons weren’t easing my case. I got even more confused when I realized they even serve cake batter! How ingenious! My mind immediately racing to my younger days. One of the pleasures of growing up then was getting to glean and clean the mixing bowl of the cake batter. It wasn’t an easy find as it depended on the mom’s mood, how clean your record was and just good ol’ timing. You might have done all your chores and even those she hadn’t thought of but by the time you get to the kitchen, the bowl was already in the sink filling with water. Yet here I was presented with the opportunity to have all the cake batter I could take without having to jump through any hoops and as if that was not enough, mix it with any ice-cream flavor of my choice.
I was beginning to have a headache trying to figure out what flavor will go well with what so I just settled for their signature creations that had a little blend of sugar and everything nice. All I needed was some spice and chemical x to release the power puff girl in me.
As I sat down to devour my ice cream, the inevitable happened. Just as I had taken my first spoonful, my taste buds dancing in excitement, my eyes closed to block out any distraction, the singing began. I opened my eyes, looked around in shock at first on what was happening and there they were, the staff that pleasantly served me a few minutes ago were all singing at the top of their lungs as they worked.
My mind races a lot and I cannot tell you what other people thought of the singing gesture but it dint go down well with me. All I saw is an American imported company that had its workers sing as they worked and all I could see was lupita. Not in her glamorous wear but in the movie working out in the cotton fields.
A marketing stunt may work in one market and completely fail in another. The singing may have worked for them in their original market but in Africa, I feel like the probability of seeing it from another unintended angle is very high.
Sporadic music works when timed well and when the audience can immediately relate to it. When the staff at woolworths South Africa decided to do a tribute song to Mandela in their store ( find link
here), it was and is still successful with over 4 million youtube hits . Reason; the music, the history and the mood were all in harmony.
Let’s give credit where it’s due though, the ice cream was really good and it still sits on top of my favourites, but may I please have my ice cream in peace without the singing!
Author: Pauline Warigia
