Jeepney music
On one of our jeepney commutes to Quiapo, a small unkempt boy climbed in, handed out envelopes to the few passengers, sat next to me and started playing a makeshift set of drums. A while later, he started singing - chanting, actually.
I was astounded at how good he sounded.
His drumset consisted of milk tins of different sizes, plus one aluminum pot, five or six in all, held together by a black rubber band, maybe an inch wide. The tins were all open on one end and he beat and swiped the other end with his palms. The sound was amazing.
This afternoon, in one of the apartments downstairs, I heard a little girl’s voice and the banging of a tin pot. Then I heard her father’s loud scolding voice. Shortly, I heard the tin pot again, the sound going further and further away, out into the streets, mingling with the voices of children playing.