Music Monday: Michael Jackson Tribute

Not at all what I expected. This Michael Jackson tribute is done by inmates in CPDRC, a maximum security prison in the Philippines. It is surprisingly peaceful and I'm sure you'll recognize the tunes.

While I was listening and watching this tribute, I realized Michael Jackson's music career was more than 40 years in total. He was the lead singer of the Jackson 5 at 11 years old. Also, I remember seeing an old American award show where Michael was a little boy and already popular on stage. I don't think he ever had a chance to grow up normal.

Because he had tremendous fame at such a young age, I'm sure it was difficult to ever live a private life. He was married briefly to Elvis Presley's daughter who also grew up in the public eye. Hearing of Michael Jackson's death, Lisa Marie Presley recently wrote on My Space that Michael was often surrounded by vampires and leeches. This means other people would want to know him and use him since he was famous.

It's a sad ending, but people all over the world are acknowledging his contribution to music and his ability to perform. I watched parts of Jackson's music concerts and some music videos. He really had great dance moves. Do you know his famous moon walk? Have you seen the choreography in his spooky "Thriller" video?

So here is the inmates in Cebu, the Philippines. Byran Garcia who is the head of the prison started these choreographed exercise routines for the inmates. The first two, "Ben" and "I'll Be There", are earlier songs. The last song, "We Are the World", was written and composed by Michael Jackson.






According to Wikipedia, the dancing inmates started to become popular a couple of years ago. They used the "Thriller" video/music by Michael Jackson, and it was uploaded in July, 2007 to Youtube. Jackson's Thriller became the world's biggest selling album of all times. The 25th Thriller Anniversary Album was released in 2008.