Triplets Ghetto Kids, a group of juvenile dancers from Uganda, went viral worldwide after receiving the “golden buzzer” during their performance on Britain’s Got Talent.
The golden buzzer, which releases a shower of gold confetti onto the stage and advances contestants to the show’s final rounds, had never been hit during a performance before.
The dance group has been an internet phenomenon for a number of years. They release videos on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok, and perform with infectiously positive energy to hit songs choreographed by leading choreographers.
As a scholar of how African dance styles travel to the rest of the world, I’ve been fascinated by how their unique performances incorporate popular African melodies and traditional African dance forms – with a modern twist. Ghetto Kids are evidence of the transformative force of dance.
Who are these children?
Triplet Ghetto Kids are part of a family of roughly 30 children that Kavuma Dauda has adopted. Since 2007, his foundation has provided shelter, sustenance, and education to street children in Kampala.
Triplets Ghetto Kids was registered as a non-governmental organization in 2013 as a result of the dance group’s unforeseen success with a homemade dance video to the song “Sitya Loss” by Ugandan vocalist Eddy Kenzo. The foundation employs music, dance, and drama to improve the lives of children.
Choreographers of renown have collaborated with Ghetto Kids, demonstrating their popularity. Since 2015, they have garnered multiple international dance awards, including an Afrimma Award, a Recording Industry Association of America award, and a YouTube Creators Award. In 2022, they performed at the men’s football World Cup.
Ghetto Kids first gained worldwide recognition in 2017 with their performance video to Angolan musician Dotorado Pro’s Marimba Rija. With choreography by Sherrie Silver, a Rwandan-born choreographer of international renown, the video garnered 25 million views at the time.
Marimba Rija was the ideal option for defining the personality of Ghetto Kids. The marimba is a fundamental percussion instrument in numerous African musical genres. The song was produced by a prominent Afro house and kuduro artist; kuduro is a music and dance genre that originated in the late 1980s in Luanda, Angola. The video drew parallels between traditional dance elements and the group’s own inventiveness and style by incorporating original dance movements.
The group produced a second video in 2021, set to Laissez Passer (Let Them Pass), a popular song by the Congolese musician Diblo Dibala. The composition combines soukous and coupé decalé.
Soukous, also known as sakis, is a 1980s-popularized dance music genre derived from the Congolese rumba. Coupé decalé is a form of popular dance and music that was created in Paris in the early 2000s by a group of teenage Ivorians. Ghetto Kids’ dance, when coupled with kuduro steps, demonstrates precisely why we should “let them pass” – they’re here to stay!
Britain’s Got Talent presentation
Two Ugandan choreographers collaborated to create the choreography for Britain’s Got Talent: Nandala Mathew, who travels the world spreading African dance styles in incredible fusions with hip-hop and funk, and Namata Esther, a talented Ugandan choreographer who works with the Ghetto Kids foundation.
The performance was all about fusion, beginning with a nod to Michael Jackson’s famous pelvic dance move and the sounds of a joyful soukous song, followed by Afro house (electronic dance music with South African origins) and coupé-décalé.
They combined some of these styles’ traditional movements with a few others from Uganda’s vast repertoire of fascinating dances. Ugandan traditional dances include ding dong (a children’s play dance from the Acholi people), agwara (a ritual dance currently used in wedding and funeral ceremonies), ekoche (a courtship dance of the Langi people), ekizino (from the Bakiga people), and ekitaguriro (also known as the cow dance and based on the movements of a cow and performed by the Banyankore people). Together with several other Ugandan dances, they constitute one of the continent’s richest living dance archives.
Add to this the unique facial and bodily interpretations of the juvenile dancers, and you have a truly original blend.
What makes them special?
Ghetto Kids have flawlessly mastered the combination of tradition and innovation. Their signature movements reflect the ebb and flow of artistic and cultural influence between sub-Saharan African nations.
The group is also conscious of the power of displaying and eradicating racial stereotypes through unexpected and humorous interpretations of their influences. The iconography of the traditional African village, rural landscapes, and even African swag (dressing in elaborate headgear and jackets) are used to propose their own outlook on life.
All of their videos and performances exude a blend of self-assurance, cynicism, and optimistic jubilation. They accept themselves as they are and are willing to share their secret to contentment.
Why they are vital
Dauda, the founder of Ghetto Kids, has often described himself as a street child who could not afford to attend school. A stranger paid for his education, and he promised himself he would do the same for others. After graduating as a math teacher, he established his foundation.
In Uganda, a country that has contended for decades with civil wars, where children have been victims of unstable political conditions and where malaria, respiratory infections, and AIDS have claimed many young lives, Dauda’s mission is of particular importance.
Keeping children visible in this context is also a strategy to safeguard their lives, make them count, encourage their growth and education, repair the violence of the past, and denounce their social conditions.
Triplets Ghetto Kids represent the need to transform the community’s historical weaknesses into strengths. They are dancing for their survival and education, and they will be successful.
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