A video that went viral in Kenya a while ago showed a group of primary school children in a village near Kisumu performing a dance routine they'd invented, using plastic bottles as drums. I'm a radio producer in Nairobi, so I tend to notice these things early.
I first saw it on a Monday morning, when three different colleagues sent it to me before I'd even reached my desk. It was filmed on a phone by their teacher in a dusty schoolyard. About fifteen children, in faded blue uniforms, were drumming on bottles and buckets and doing a dance with very complicated footwork, all perfectly in time. In the middle there's a tiny girl, maybe six years old, who completely steals the show with a spin at the end and then bursts out laughing.
The reaction was incredible. Within a couple of days it seemed like everyone in the country had seen it. Musicians shared it, people made their own versions in offices and markets, and a local business donated proper musical instruments to the school. We even invited the teacher onto our morning show.
I think it became popular for several reasons. Firstly, it was pure joy. At the time, the news was full of political arguments and rising prices, and this was a minute of happiness with no agenda. Secondly, it showed real talent from a place people often ignore. Many Kenyans grew up in schools exactly like that one, so there was a sense of pride and recognition. And lastly, the little girl's laugh was so infectious that you couldn't watch it only once. I must have watched it twenty times myself.