Kili-kili Power

It was a hot, sweaty, slightly crazy summer night similar to this in 2008 when I first heard the awesome chaos that is Pan De Sal at an outdoor concert.

 

Named after a staple Filipino bread, I was instantly curious. "They better be good to name themselves after that deliciousness!" I thought. I listened, not knowing what to expect, and was hit by a world mix of sound and then literally laughed out loud when they burst out with the lyrics, "Kili-kili power!" Kili-kili being the Tagalog word for armpit. It drove my instant love home as they encouraged the crowd to chant it along with them.

They also integrated French and Portuguese into their songs, so I can only imagine what other seemingly nonsensical phrases I may have heard that night. And while it seems silly to yell out "armpit power" at a concert, the real juice in Pan De Sal's music comes from the idea that all music is derived from one world.

You have to love that.

Read about them here. Learn more about them and listen to their music here or here or here.

Band pic via last.fm.

Top pic is my friend Charlotte and me when had no care in the world, 2008.

Oh! And try some pan de sal, the actual bread, here.