Huriyyah Muhammad and Ekwa of Infinite Wings Media last year came to Kenya to produce the film The Market King which was later given the name “Soko Sonko” featuring some of the top actors and actresses in Kenya.
Soko Sonko is causing ripples at the Africa Film Festival that is ongoing in New York which is actually the longest and the bests African film festival in the USA. The film premiered at Walter Reade Theater, Lincoln Center, NYC last week on Thursday May 8th and Sunday May 11th
“The comedy Soko Sonko (Translation:The Market King) shows the mayhem that could possibly happen when you take a mother out of the picture for just one day. Set in Kenya’s capital Nairobi, a father is on his way out of the door to watch a highly anticipated soccer game with friends, when he notices that his wife is sick and might not be able to take their daughter to get her hair braided (his wife sounds like she’s coughing up a lung). Thankfully, he volunteers to take his baby girl to get her tresses tamed, but approaches the task from the typical ‘dudes’ perspective. Mission? To get it done in half the time that it typically takes his wife.
‘How hard or difficult can this possibly be?’ the father likely thought, judging by his calm, but rushed demeanor. ‘I’ll be in and out, just in time for the soccer game to begin!’
Yeah right. If you’ve ever been to a market in a major African city, then you know just how robust and hectic that experience can be for a layman, like tourists, or even local fathers who don’t do the grocery shopping or run errands. Depending on the size of the market, there are approximately 100 merchants crowded in a small area, all standing in front of their stalls peddling their products loudly. Plus, hair-braiding is a very popular service, and if you’re walking through a market with your hair seemingly undone, then the spotlight is on you:
“Aun-teeee, come and let me make your hair. It will be veeery bu-tee-full” hustling hair-braiders shout.
Long story short, the father is in too much of a hurry to have the lady who normally braids his daughter’s hair do it, because she already has a few clients waiting, so the poor dad commits cardinal sin No. 1 with regard to black kinky hair. He entrusts a random hair-braider who has never styled his daughter’s hair, to the task. When the stylist was done, his daughter’s hair looked a little like Martin Payne’s in that episode of Martin when he runs away to the convent to “find himself”. Remember?”
-ghafla.co.ke
