Netflix’s latest Kenyan offering Volume asks a question, ‘When you are chasing your dreams, how do you know you are on the right path?’, and spends its six-episode run trying to answer it. Created by David ‘Tosh’ Gitonga who is aided by Njiiri Karago, Volume rides high atop pop culture’s current wave of interest in films that explore potential real life situations in lieu of those on alternate realities that have proliferated the film scene for a while now.
The series revolves around an aspiring rap artist named Benjamin Mwachinga who is by-named Benja by people in his hood and his fans as well. Benja is the son of a Benga artist, referred to as ‘George The Great’ who abandoned him and his mum as a kid. Alongside Benja, the other protagonists are Castro, Benja’s best friend who comes from a feared crime family called The Mujama brothers or The Six, Smallz, an aspiring music producer who throughout the six episodes is tormented by a secret he does not openly reveal, Ivy a character with a behavioral addiction to Instagram vlogging, and Lucy who is Benja’s main love interest.
Character-driven
Volume makes use of its bevy of characters to explore various realities using a hold-no-punches-back approach. The accomplished cast of talented actors contributes significantly to the success of the production, skillfully bringing their assigned roles to life with authenticity. Brian Kabugi stars as Benja, with his blueprint boyish energy setting him up to portray a budding rapper exceptionally. Stephanie Muchiri skillfully embodies the character of Ivy with her expressive facial expressions. Serah Wanjiru’s laid-back demeanor serves her right as Lucy, and one can firmly proclaim she was born for such a role. Elvis Ounyo as Smallz has the build of an artistic producer. Faiz Francis Ouma as Castro is the ambassador of the Kenyan hood aesthetic through his use of popular sheng catchphrases in his dialogue and cool dressing.
But the most impressive of the character portrayals is by Ugandan actress Natasha Sinayobye as Andrea, a character who comes closer to being the primary antagonist in the series than others. Andrea is imposing, commanding attention wherever she is, and a woman who seems to get everything she wants and needs. Natasha commands the role by making herself the focus of every scene that Andrea is in, subsequently making her performance the best in the series.
Aside from the cast, Volume also delights with guest stars making surprise cameo appearances on occasion in the episodes. In the last episode, Blessing Lung’Aho, who has been a presence in some of the best-rated Kenyan films over the years, makes a surprise appearance portraying Kingston who is Andrea’s love interest. In the fifth episode, there is a scene where Benja and his friends are recording in a studio with Kenyan-American rapper Barak Jacuzzi. Towards the end of the pilot episode, one of Kenya’s leading Female Emcees Wangechi makes an appearance performing at an event that Benja is scheduled to perform at. These cameo appearances make a case for Volume as a very enticing series for Kenyan Pop Culture buffs to watch.
The other delight from Volume is one that is witnessed in all of Tosh Gitonga’s films. In his past projects such as Disconnect and Nairobi Half Life, Tosh flexed his creativity and passed the ultimate test of directorial art, which is to make memorable and unforgettable scene compositions ( mise-en-scène). Alfonso Cuarón in 2019 said, ‘In the history of cinema, masterpieces have existed without sound, without color, without a story, without actors and without music. No single film has ever existed without cinematography.’ In Volume as well, Tosh Gitonga doesn’t disappoint with this core aspect of film.
In the pilot episode the main character Benja, alongside Castro, channels Kenyan artist Nyashinski in his song Wach Wach in his ‘original’ composition with the lyrics, “okay you see / only what they let you see / Na hii ni advice, sio matusi / Don’t fuck up ju ya ganji ../ ”. The lyrics mirror how the series shines in bright critical light through its coverage of the lengths that young dreamers are at times forced to go to in their search for that something which could be the catalyst for making it. Volume is a series about the realities of young Kenyan dreamers.
