by Marie Rea
Pinoy Dancing Inmates’ Michael Jackson Tribute Post 3 Million Plus Views on YouTube!
With their first YouTube video in 2007 fetching almost 29 million views as of this writing, the renowned inmates of Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Centre (CPDRC) in the Philippines has once again shot to fame with their own tribute to the “King of Pop” who died last 26th June of unclear circumstances.
When news of Michael’s death reached the inmates, they immediately practiced for hours for a superb and creative performance which has garnered over 3.4 million views so far.
In their latest tribute which ran for more than nine minutes, the 1500 inmates danced in stylish synchronised form to Michael Jackson classics like “Ben”, “I’ll Be There” and “We Are the World, among others.
This group of orange-clad prisoners have endeared themselves to the hearts of many YouTube fans, and are equally great fans of Jackson himself. They are grateful to Michael for helping make their popularity and fame possible. For, if not for his song “Thriller” which was also the title of their first video which is still attracting hordes of YouTube viewers, they wouldn’t have been noticed by the world.
This in turn had reportedly given the inmates more self-respect and inspired them to perform their very best!
The tribute video (and the ones before this) was posted by Warden Byron
Garcia, head of the centre, who thought of putting synchronized dancing as part of their exercise regimen.
One of the prison’s goal was to keep inmates mentally and physically fit. Dancing proved to be a hit among the inmates with music added as everybody knows Filipinos love music and dancing!
Garcia was reported as expressing surprise over the tremendous response on the videos he has posted over the years, according to an AOL website on Filipino celebrities.
If you want to watch the tribute and other videos of the Cebu inmates, just go to You Tube.com and search for inmates tribute or put this in your browser and check them out here.
They’ve had a few dancing videos which are all meticulously choreographed and danced equally well by the inmates. This writer has seen many of their videos including the Jackson tribute, being a member of You Tube herself and is still entertained by them! The CPDRC is a maximum security prison in Cebu and its inmates are either facing trial or are serving sentences for crimes ranging from shoplifting, to murder and rape, according to Wikipedia.
Other tidbits
Is Miranda Kerr (Australian model girlfriend of Orlando Bloom), of Filipino descent? No less than a popular television program has reported this famous model to have Filipino blood running in her veins along with Serbian, Iranian and Turkish race. How true is this?
Further research led me to this internet site which described Miranda as having been born in Australia on April 20, 1983 in the town of Gunnedah.
The same site claimed this beauty was “grown in Brisbane, Queensland to multi-ethnic parents of Serbian, Iranian, Turkish and Filipino descent.”
Unless Miranda herself declared her own ethnicity, then we’ll treat this as plain rumour, I guess!
If you have information on this and other famous Filipino-Australians, please send an email to this column to: marierea@tpg.com.au. If you got time, please check also this writer’s website.