It’s so calming.
Twitter user Rico Aque (@RicoAque) shared a now-viral video last night of him playing a Filipino pop song with the African instrument kalimba, a performance that impressed netizens.
He played the hit “Kung ‘Di Rin Lang Ikaw,” which roughly translates to “If it’s not you” by December Avenue featuring Moira dela Torre.
In the video, Aque can be seen playing the song with a kalimba, an African thumb piano made with a wooden board and attached metal tines. Musicians play the instrument by holding it with two hands and plucking the tines with thumbs.
It sounds like a little music box.
Watch Aque’s video below:
https://twitter.com/ricoaque/status/1113065539356639232
The 16-year-old told Coconuts Manila through a Twitter message that he has been playing the kalimba for only a few weeks and that he recorded the video just days after learning how to play the song.
He said he took a video of himself playing the song because he and a lot of people can relate to it. Like most other teenagers nowadays, he taught himself by searching kalimba tabs online.
“I chose the kalimba because I wanted to try playing something new since I’m already familiar in playing many other instruments like the guitar, ukelele, piano,” he told Coconuts.
He shared that he was influenced by his family’s musical background. He’s been playing musical instruments since he was only eight-years-old.
Aque also said he’d be thrilled if artists December Avenue and Dela Torre would see his video since he loves them.
The tweet had over 140,000 views, 18,000 likes, and 6,400 retweets as of this article’s posting. Netizens thought the video was amazing.
Twitter user @chancycorinth said in Filipino: “ugh amazing oii”
ugh galing oii🙌🏻
— Chancy Corinth (@chancycorinth) April 3, 2019
Twitter user @Eewelry tagged a friend and said: “i wanna learn how to play this :(”
@Rubiooovince i wanna learn how to play this 🙁
— Wel (@Eewelry) April 3, 2019
@Mhilkz11 said with a sleeping emoji: “So relaxing.”
So relaxing… 😴
— Milky Guarin (@Mhilkz11) April 3, 2019
“[S]hit it sounds so good to my ears,” said @lyssmrzstrrxs.
shet ang sarap sa tenga. ganyan ka sa piano dali 😍😍
— aly (@lyssmrzstrrxs) April 3, 2019
@ikelable said: “I just woke up [but] I’m already sleepy again.”
Kagigising ko pa lang inaantok na ulit ako
— Exequiel Llobrera 🌐 (@ikelable) April 2, 2019
Those who’d like to compare Aque’s cover with the original song can check out its music video, below:
The kalimba is popular on the internet, especially after musician Acoustic Trench’s videos playing it went viral. His videos usually show him playing an instrument with his cute Border Collie-Golden Retriever mixed breed pup named Maple.
