Lupita Nyongo dances with Pharrell Williams at the 2014 Oscars (image courtesy of www.nydailynews.com )
During the 2014 oscars, Pharrell Williams took to the stage to perform his latest song ‘Happy’which has since become a global hit with 138 Million hits on Youtube. When he started his performance, Kenya’s very own first time Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o was the first to get up and dance with Pharrell during this event with millions around the world watching and tweeting about the event.
This is most likely what inspired the first Kenyan group to choreography their own ‘Happy Dance’ giving their own version of Pharrell’s song ‘Happy’. The film was made in Kenya by Capucine & Tom as a wedding present. The very well choreographed video that shows the beautiful Kenyan Scenery features various Kenyans singing along to the song even under water with scenes shot in Nairobi and Mombasa.
The video so far has attracted 55,000 views on Youtube since it was uploaded 1 week ago.
Next came the Lower Subukia version shot by the Fransiscan Mission which shows various kids expressing their happiness in every imaginable way shot less than a week ago with 29,000 views so far.
Kenya’s leading telecommunications company Safaricom was next with their version of the Happy Dance. The video features the Safaricom staff at their Wayikai Way headquarters. The video was their way of marking the World Happiness day on 20th March.
The absence of the CEO Bob Collymore with Nzioka Waita the director of Corporate Affairs was noted by tweep @DennisKioko
Why are @bobcollymore and @Nzioka0722 not happy? #SafaricomHappy
— Dennis Kioko (@denniskioko) March 20, 2014
Lastly, the NTV crew inspired by Larry Madowo did their version just in-time for their weekly tech show The Trend.
My bet is that there is another group/company out there shooting their own version and soon, there might be more Happy Dances on YouTube from Kenyans.