By Nivriti Butalia
Recently, someone filmed a rhinoceros walking in a park, and set it to the beat of Canadian rapper Drake’s song, In My Feelings. There was also a zebra in the footage. Both rhino and zebra are filmed through a car door. Car doors have fast turned indispensible for anyone accepting the #InMyFeelingsChallenge.
Continue reading What’s this Kiki song people are jumping out of cars for?
By Keith Pereña
Just last week, three shootings occurred in the United States. Even before the latest atrocities, I had begun to wonder why America — the country I was told was a land of progress and peace — had turned into the Wild West. Growing up in one of the many countries that the US governed back in time, Filipino culture always put America up on a pedestal. Yet there it was, another dot in their population deciding to shoot down other dots.
Continue reading How a song portrays the divided states of America
By Keith Pereña
From an early age, I took comfort in both the discordant, wailing sounds of an electric guitar and the sound of an acoustic, akin to the sounds of angels. Even now, whenever an iconic riff comes up on my music player — say, AC/DC’s Back in Black — I imitate Angus Young as he held his Gibson SG and played the introduction to the song. This interest in ‘air guitaring’ culminated in one video gaming fad during the early 2000’s: Guitar Hero.
By Keith Pereña
Here’s a ‘tall’ claim: the Filipinos have their own version of the Beatles. Continue reading Eraserheads: The band that rules the Filipino psyche
By Keith Pereña
Let me begin by using a cliché most travel writers use — a journey without a smartphone. While I was in the Philippines recently on vacation, I had to, by default, do without my phone. In the excitement of going home for my brother Charles’s graduation, and seeing everyone I love, I forgot to back up my phone. Charles had to hand his phone down to me. So while I did technically have a new phone, it was without apps, and most importantly — without my music.
Continue reading Songs of grandpa’s vintage are great. But new numbers…
By Allan Jacob
Mama Mia, there she goes again. My daughter’s swaying to Abba, singing along. She’s also humming Money, Money, Money, another memorable number by the group. On my way to work my iPod comes up with I Have a Dream, a favourite of my mom’s. The sitar interludes make it unique, and I wonder why I never caught it in all my years of listening to the group.
Continue reading Welcome back, Abba, and thank you for the memories
By Deepa Narwani
The year was 2009 and Coldplay was in Abu Dhabi for their first concert in the UAE. I was singing along to the hit track Violet Hill when the arena’s lights went out. Coldplay was marking Earth Hour. They had requested the organisers to switch off the lights for five minutes. Phone screens lit up the venue. Continue reading What Coldplay taught me about Earth Hour
