Entertainment
Can’t live in fear: Indian-American Grammy nominee on Las Vegas shooting
By Natalia Ningthoujam
New Delhi, Oct 4 (IANS) Grammy nominated Indian-American songwriter Raja Kumari, also a rapper, wishes to push the South Asian profile forward through her music and says that incidents like the mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music concert can’t force her to live in fear.
The death toll from the mass shooting at the concert on Sunday has touched 59, and 527 others were left injured.
Just a few months ago, singer Ariana Grande’s concert in Manchester was interrupted by a suicide bomber.
It seems like attending concerts has become unsafe. Is Kumari scared as an artiste to perform?
“Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes you don’t understand it. It’s so horrible what’s been happening, but I can’t live my life in fear. I have to try to influence people through my music. Choose the light. I am sad and shocked about it (the shooting), but I refuse to make that change in me for what I came on earth to do,” Kumari told IANS on the phone from Mumbai.
Her aim is to help push the South Asian profile forward worldwide.
“I want to make the entire global community look at India as the source of hip-hop,” said the California-based rapper with roots in Andhra Pradesh.
Kumari, best known for her collaboration with global artistes like Gwen Stefani, Iggy Azalea and Fall Out Boy, has always been vocal about her love for India.
“I am also a classical Indian dancer. I have learnt Kuchipudi, Bharatanatyam and Odissi. I have done charity performances in India. So, I have always had a deep connection with the history of India.
“I wanted a grander stage for my classical dance and music. Everybody can enjoy music. I thought of using that medium to celebrate our culture,” she added.
Now, she is looking forward to the Wednesday release of her song “City slums”.
“When I was watching ‘Slumdog Millionaire’, I felt annoyed as the only generous person they showed was a white man giving $100. This song is coming from the gullies (lanes), the song is more about the spirit of the people there and celebrating what’s great about them,” she said about the track which is in collaboration with Indian rapper Divine.
“If you watch the video, I don’t think there is anything negative. It is out of respect and love for where I come from. And Divine is the gully gang boy. It is truly an international collaboration. I am here to celebrate all of us… the 1.4 billion people,” she added.
After her 2014 song “Centuries” for rock band Fall Out Boy became a platinum, the songwriter proved that the American music industry could invest in her work. Would she like to pen a song on the current American politics?
“Gosh! I believe that music speaks to people. He (US President Donald Trump) has said so many crazy things. Last year, he said something about the children of immigrants to be monitored.
“The America that I grew up in is the Land of Milk and Honey. My parents lived the American dream. I am the American dream. I mostly respond to his behaviour with meditation and concentration on love and light,” she added.
(Natalia Ningthoujam can be contacted at [email protected])
–IANS
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International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.
Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.
The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.
Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile
The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.
The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.
“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.
Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings
Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.
Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).
Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.
The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.
Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.
Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities
The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.
On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.
Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.
“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.
The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.
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