‘Singing nation’: How karaoke took over the Philippines

Special ‘Singing nation’: How karaoke took over the Philippines
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Updated 03 July 2024
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‘Singing nation’: How karaoke took over the Philippines

‘Singing nation’: How karaoke took over the Philippines
  • Karaoke is ubiquitous in the Philippines, from malls to bars and roadside eateries
  • Popularized in the 1970s, it has since become the Philippines’ national pastime

MANILA: Videos of Filipinos singing their hearts out at karaoke machines and belting out showstopping numbers from stars like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey have been raking in millions of views on social media.

One such clip posted on YouTube in 2012, with Zendee Tenerefe singing “I Will Always Love You,” attracted over 26 million viewers, winning the young girl an invite on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in the US.

While it shot her to international fame, performances like that of Tenerefe are not a unique sight in the Philippines, where people croon at singing machines at shopping malls, public transport terminals, roadside eateries, restaurants, designated karaoke bars, and in the privacy of their homes.

In public areas, Filipinos can belt their favorite hits for as little as five pesos ($0.80) a song, with the accessibility contributing to karaoke becoming a favorite pastime for everyone, regardless of social status and age.

The love for singing is so widespread that cities have been issuing ordinances regulating the time and day Filipinos can engage in public signing as the hours-long sessions usually run until the early morning.

“Karaoke culture is popular in the Philippines, as it is part of a communal activity in every celebration, whether with a family or a circle of friends,” Patricia Dizon, communication lecturer at the University of the Philippines, told Arab News, observing that its origins date centuries before the Japanese musician Daisuke Inoue invented the Juke-8 — the first karaoke machine — in 1971.

European explorers who arrived on the shores of the Philippine archipelago regularly took note of the natives’ keen musical abilities. The 16th-century Venetian scholar Antonio Pigafetta, for example, observed the Filipinos he met “played so harmoniously that one would believe they possessed good musical sense.”

Meanwhile, Antonio de Morga, a Spanish colonial official who in the late 16th and early 17th century served in the Philippines, referred to the Filipinos as a “singing nation,” as they sang during every activity.

Spanning ages, geographical locations, and social strata, the love for singing is an iconic feature of the culture, and people in the Philippines now have wide repertoire of songs to choose from in today’s ubiquitous karaoke culture.

“While karaoke has long been associated with our titos (uncles) belting the songs of Tom Jones, as well as our ates (elder sisters) singing the infamous ‘Kitchie Nadal Medley,’ there are even newer songs available at the present, including those by the likes of (P-Pop or Pinoy pop groups) SB19 and BINI,” Dizon said.

Although the first karaoke machine was created by a Japanese, it is the Filipino entrepreneur Roberto del Rosario who holds its patent and developed the Karaoke Sing-Along System in 1975.

The system, which features the prerecorded music of popular songs and lyrics on a video screen, has turned karaoke into a central part of pop culture in the Philippines

In cities, Filipinos are treated to a wide range of options to get their fill of the entertainment. Establishments called KTV (karaoke television) rooms are popular for night outs, where groups can rent a private room to sing and order food and drinks. There are also karaoke bars for more courageous people to sing in public.

Law student Crystal Arcega, 26, and her friends frequent such bars to blow off steam in the middle of a grueling academic semester.

“I usually go for karaoke during midterms or after finals season. It’s a great way to hang out with my friends, especially after a long day,” she said.

“When I was younger, we would go to a karaoke booth in the mall every Sunday to sing after going to Mass. It was very wholesome.”

Both in her childhood and now, the love for singing has always had an important social or family dimension to it.

“Karaoke is a way for us to bond,” Arcega said. “Whether it’s to unwind or make memories with our loved ones, I think karaoke as an activity makes us come together and focus on a single thing that we can do together.”

Some, like Emmelle Petalder, 25, also do it alone, at home, with voiceless tunes that are widely available on YouTube.

“This happens two to three times a week,” she said. “Whenever I feel like it, or when there’s a song stuck in my head.”

She usually goes to KTV bars with friends to celebrate special moments as the social nature of karaoke draws everyone in.

“When Filipinos do karaoke, everyone sings along, even those who are not holding the mic,” she said.

“Karaoke gives us the opportunity to let those feelings out by singing our hearts out.”


Pakistani elephant Sonia dies less than two weeks after reunion with sister Madhubala

Pakistani elephant Sonia dies less than two weeks after reunion with sister Madhubala
Updated 08 December 2024
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Pakistani elephant Sonia dies less than two weeks after reunion with sister Madhubala

Pakistani elephant Sonia dies less than two weeks after reunion with sister Madhubala
  • Elephant’s post-mortem to be carried out on Monday, says international animal welfare organization
  • Sonia, sisters Madhubala, Malika and Noor Jehan, were brought from Tanzania to Pakistan in 2009

KARACHI: Pakistani elephant Sonia died at the Safari Park in Karachi on Sunday morning, an official said, less than two weeks after she was reunited with her sister Madhubala after a 15-year separation. 

Sisters Sonia, Malika, Noor Jehan and Madhubala were caught in the wild in Tanzania at a young age and brought to Pakistan together in 2009 but were soon separated, with Noor Jehan and Madhubala moved to the Karachi Zoo and Malika and Sonia to the city’s Safari Park. 

Noor Jehan died in April 2023 at age 17 after a prolonged illness caused by neglect, leaving Madhubala alone at the zoo. After a 15-year separation, Madhubala was shifted to the Safari Park on Nov. 26 where she was reunited with Malika and Sonia, who are estimated to be between 17 and 19 years old. 

“Sonia, one of the three elephants at Karachi’s Safari Park, passed away this morning,” Amjad Zaidi, director of the Safari Park, told Arab News.

“There were no health issues, and she appeared to be in perfect condition,” he said. 

Dr. Amir Khalil, director of the international animal welfare organization Four Paws, said a doctor from Lahore would conduct an autopsy examination on Sonia at Safari Park on Monday. 

“Based on this post-mortem report, it will be clear what factors led to the unexpected demise of Sonia,” Dr. Khalil told Arab News, highlighting that Sonia’s last medical report showed she was deficient in protein. 

Four Paws said last month that the three elephants’ health was being observed by head veterinarian Dr. Frank Goeritz from the Leibnitz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife Research, who has been involved in treating the elephants since 2021.

In November 2021, after the provincial Sindh High Court asked Four Paws to assess the Pakistani elephants’ well-being, all four were found to require better diet and medical treatment. 

Pakistan’s English-language daily Dawn reported in July that Sonia was found to have developed a swelling between her hind legs. Zaidi told Dawn that Sonia had developed the infection but was recovering. 

Animal rights activists have long campaigned against the plight of animals in Pakistan, especially elephants, and demanded that they be provided adequate medical care and nutrition. 


TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?
Updated 07 December 2024
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TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok is inching closer to a potential ban in the US. So what's next?

TikTok's future in the U.S. appeared uncertain on Friday after a federal appeals court rejected a legal challenge to a law that requires the social media platform to cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January.
A panel of three judges on The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit ruled unanimously that the law withstood constitutional scrutiny, rebuffing arguments from the two companies that the statute violated their rights and the rights of TikTok users in the U.S.
The government has said it wants ByteDance, TikTok's parent company, to divest its stakes. But if it doesn't and the platform goes away, it would have a seismic impact on the lives of content creators who rely on the platform for income as well as users who use it for entertainment and connection.
Here are some details on the ruling and what could happen next:
What does the ruling say?
In their lawsuit, TikTok and ByteDance, which is also a plaintiff in the case, had challenged the law on various fronts, arguing in part that the statute ran afoul of the First Amendment and was an unconstitutional bill of attainder that unfairly targeted the two companies.
But the court sided with attorneys for the Justice Department who said that the government was attempting to address national security concerns and the way in which it chose to do so did not violate the constitution.
The Justice Department has argued in court that TikTok poses a national security risk due to its connections to China. Officials say that Chinese authorities can compel ByteDance to hand over information on TikTok's U.S. patrons or use the platform to spread, or suppress, information. However, the U.S. hasn't publicly provided examples of that happening.
The appeals court ruling, written by Judge Douglas Ginsburg, said the law was “carefully crafted to deal only with control by a foreign adversary." The judges also rejected the claim that the statute was an unlawful bill of attainder or a taking of property in violation of the Fifth Amendment. Furthermore, Ginsburg wrote the law did not violate the First Amendment because the government is not looking to “suppress content or require a certain mix of content” on TikTok.
What happens next?
TikTok and ByteDance are expected to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, but it's unclear whether the court will take up the case.
TikTok indicated in a statement on Friday the two companies are preparing to take their case to high court, saying the Supreme Court has “an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech."
"We expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue,” a company spokesperson said.
Alan Morrison, a professor at The George Washington University Law School, said he expects the Supreme Court to take up the case because of the novelty of the issues raised in the lawsuit. If that happens, attorneys for the two companies still have to convince the court to grant them an emergency stay that will prevent the government from enforcing the Jan. 19 divestiture deadline stipulated in the law, Morrison said.
Such a move could drag out the process until the Justices make a ruling.
Tiffany Cianci, a TikTok content creator who has supported the platform, said she was not shocked about the outcome of the court's ruling on Friday because lower courts typically defer to the executive branch on these types of cases. She believes the company will have a stronger case at the Supreme Court.
“I believe that the next stages are more likely to produce a victory for TikTokers and for TikTok as a whole,” Cianci said.
What about Trump?
Another wild card is President-elect Donald Trump, who tried to ban TikTok during his first term but said during the recent presidential campaign that he is now against such action.
The Trump transition team has not offered details on how Trump plans to carry out his pledge to “save TikTok." But spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement last month that he plans to “deliver” on his campaign promises.
After Trump takes office on Jan. 20th, it would fall on his Justice Department to enforce the law and punish any potential violators. Penalties would apply to any app stores that would violate a prohibition on TikTok and to internet hosting services which would be barred from supporting it.
Some have speculated that Trump could ask his Justice Department to abstain from enforcing the law. But tech companies like Apple and Google, which offer TikTok's app on their app stores, would then have to trust that the administration would not come after them for any violations.
Craig Singleton, senior director of the China program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said enforcement discretion — or executive orders — can not override existing law, leaving Trump with “limited room for unilateral action."
There are other things Trump could potentially do. It's possible he could invoke provisions of the law that allow the president to determine whether a sale or a similar transaction frees TikTok from “foreign adversary” control. Another option is to urge Congress to repeal the law. But that too would require support from congressional Republicans who have overwhelmingly supported the prospect of getting TikTok out of the hands of a Chinese company.
In a statement issued Friday, Republican Rep. John Moolenaar of Michigan, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said he was “optimistic that President Trump will facilitate an American takeover of TikTok” and allow its continued use in the United States.
Is anyone trying to buy TikTok?
ByteDance has said it won't sell TikTok. And even if it wanted to, a sale of the proprietary algorithm that powers TikTok is likely to get blocked under Chinese export controls that the country issued in 2020.
That means if TikTok is sold without the algorithm, its likely that the buyer would only purchase a shell of the platform that doesn't contain the technology that made the app a cultural powerhouse.
Still, some investors, including Trump’s former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and billionaire Frank McCourt, have expressed interest in buying it.
This week, a spokesperson for McCourt’s Project Liberty initiative, which aims to protect online privacy, said participants in their bid have made informal commitments of more than $20 billion in capital. The spokesperson did not disclose the identity of the participants.


Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook
Updated 07 December 2024
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Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

Connecticut court upholds $965 million verdict against Alex Jones in Sandy Hook

HARTFORD, Connecticut: The Connecticut Appellate Court on Friday affirmed a $965 million verdict from 2022 against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, determining there’s “sufficient evidence” to support the damages awarded to relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims and an FBI agent.
In its unanimous opinion, the court cited the “traumatic threats and harassment” the families endured “stemming from the lies, as propagated by the defendants, that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.”
“Our review of the record reveals that there was sufficient evidence to support the $965,000,000 in compensatory damages awarded by the jury,” according to the 62-page decision. It marks the largest jury verdict in Connecticut history.
The appellate court did grant Jones a $150 million reprieve. It determined the plaintiffs “failed to assert a legally viable” claim under the Connecticut Unfair Trade Practices Act and that $150 million in punitive damages awarded by the lower court must be vacated, noting the plaintiffs alleged injury came from false language and not from speech related to advertising, marketing or the sale of goods.
An email was sent seeking comment from Jones’ attorney.
Jones now owes a total of roughly $1.2 billion, counting the $965 million to the Connecticut families and nearly $50 million awarded by a Texas jury to the parents of a Sandy Hook child who was killed.
Jones filed for personal bankruptcy in 2022, and the sale of his Infowars platform is part of that case. A bid by The Onion satirical news outlet to buy Infowars is scheduled to return Monday to a Texas courtroom, where a judge will be deciding whether a bankruptcy auction was properly run. Jones alleges collusion and fraud.
Lawyers for the Sandy Hook families hailed the Connecticut appellate court’s ruling on Friday as an overall victory. Jones can appeal the decision to the Connecticut State Supreme Court.
“Today, Alex Jones’s effort to overturn the jury’s historic verdict against him and his corrupt business, Infowars, was unanimously rejected by the Connecticut Appellate Court. The jury’s $965 million rebuke of Jones will stand, and the families who have fought valiantly for years have brought Alex Jones yet another step closer to true justice,” the lawyers said in a statement.
Jones repeatedly told his millions of followers the 2012 massacre that killed 20 first graders and six educators was staged by “crisis actors” to enact more gun control.
The appellate court also determined that a lower court “properly exercised its discretion” in finding Jones and his Infowars’ parent company Free Speech Systems LLC., liable for damages by default for failing to cooperate with court rules on sharing evidence.


Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian

Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian
Updated 06 December 2024
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Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian

Berlin’s new panda twins have been named. Meet Leni and Lotti, or Meng Hao and Meng Tian
  • The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian (“beautiful dreams” and “sweet dreams”)

BERLIN: Germany’s new panda twins now have names — or rather, two names apiece.
The two female cubs, born at the Berlin Zoo on Aug. 22, were introduced Friday as Meng Hao and Meng Tian (“beautiful dreams” and “sweet dreams”). Alternatively, they also answer to the very Berlin names of Leni and Lotti — tributes to Berlin native Marlene Dietrich and the German capital’s Charlottenburg district.
The pair, who lay on their bellies on a mattress and peered at photographers as the Chinese ambassador to Germany and Berlin’s mayor unveiled their names, are the second pair of giant pandas born in Germany.
The first were their elder brothers Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, who became far better known by the German names Pit and Paule. The cubs were born in August 2019 and were a star attraction in Berlin until they were flown to China nearly a year ago — a trip that was contractually agreed from the start but delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
All are the offspring of mother Meng Meng and father Jiao Qing, who arrived in Berlin in 2017.
Zoo director Andreas Knieriem said the youngsters are growing fast, putting on nearly 100 grams (3.5 ounces) per day and now weighing in at almost 6 kilos (13.2 pounds) each.
Giant pandas have difficulty breeding and births are particularly welcomed. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.
Meng Meng was artificially inseminated in March. Female pandas are fertile only for a few days per year at most.
China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a “panda diplomacy″ policy. The country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms.
Visitors to the zoo are currently able to see one of the cubs for an hour each day. From late January both will be on view with their mother, the zoo said.


World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74

World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74
Updated 06 December 2024
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World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74

World’s oldest-known wild bird lays an egg in Hawaii at age 74
  • Wisdom returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg
  • Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks

The oldest known wild bird in the world has laid an egg at the ripe age of about 74, her first in four years, US wildlife officials said.
The long-winged seabird named Wisdom, a Laysan albatross, returned to Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge at the northwestern edge of the Hawaiian Archipelago and laid what experts estimate may be her 60th egg, the Pacific Region of the US Fish & Wildlife Service said in a Facebook post this week.
Wisdom and her mate, Akeakamai, had returned to the atoll in the Pacific Ocean to lay and hatch eggs since 2006. Laysan albatrosses mate for life and lay one egg per year. But Akeakamai has not been seen for several years and Wisdom began interacting with another male when she returned last week, officials said.
“We are optimistic that the egg will hatch,” Jonathan Plissner, supervisory wildlife biologist at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge said in a statement. Every year, millions of seabirds return to the refuge to nest and raise their young.
Albatross parents take turns incubating an egg for about seven months. Chicks fly out to sea about five to six months after hatching. They spend most of their lives flying over the ocean and feeding on squid and fish eggs.
Wisdom was first banded as an adult in 1956 and has raised as many as 30 chicks, Plissner said.
The typical lifespan of a Laysan albatross is 68 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.