Monday, June 18, 2012

Musical Flashback: "Asereje" by Las Ketchup (2002)

Starting today, I shall regularly be posting a series of entries called "Musical Flashback", where I will be posting about songs that were popular from the 60's (or maybe even older) until the early 2000s. With the exception of this particular entry, all other "Musical Flashback" entries will be posted on a Sunday, in line with many radio stations' tradition of playing oldies or classic hits on Sundays. 

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In 2002, the Spanish pop group Las Ketchup (composed of sisters Lucia, Lola and Pilar Munoz) released a song called Asereje or "The Ketchup Song". This was released as the lead single from the singing trio's album Hijas del Tomate. This song proved to be a hit, reaching the number one spot in charts such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Turkey, and France. Its popularity also reached the Philippines, where the song became a dance craze as people did their own interpretations of the song's dance steps, as seen on its music video.

The song, however, became very controversial in the Philippines. The Christian sect Iglesia Ni Kristo banned its members from listening to the song, as the song allegedly made references to devil worship. Other sects soon followed suit. These religious groups alleged that when the song was backmasked, references to the devil became even more clear. Its lyrics also apparently makes references to Satan's "coming" in an apocalypse, as stated in numerous e-mails that were circulating at the time. Just take a look at one such e-mail here.

Fans, however, defended the song by saying that the song was merely about a man in a club who dances to his favorite song. 

So what do you think? Is this song truly evil? Or is it just another feel-good European pop song? 

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