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a version of this was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, September 14 2009. It was on two seemingly disparate occasions that the interweaving of art and music came to life for this writer. The first one involved the unfinished and unfulfilled CD project of the arts organization CANVAS and Ambient Media, where local musicians collaborate with visual artists on the theme of Filipino identity. The second was what seemed to be a run-of-the-mill album launch of Grace Nono, in… Continue reading »
last friday, along katipunan avenue, ugly pink MMDA street dividers had yellow ribbons. today, driving through The Fort, lampposts and trees adorned with the same. on GMA 7′s sunday noontime variety show earlier today, all artists had yellow ribbons and pins on their shirts, Judy Ann Santos was in a crazy yellow bustier. the UAAP’s main game between U.P. and Ateneo this afternoon had all basketball players and coaches with yellow ribbons attached to their uniforms. and as in 1983,… Continue reading »
If there’s any soundbite that I absolutely hated hearing in relation to the Hayden Koh sex videos, it’s from Boy Abunda, saying that sex, whether on video or not, must be about LOVE. Goodness. Is this the dark ages? How many women have been oppressed precisely by this notion of love? I love you girl, therefore sleep with me. This dialogue is what has brought women to bed, before they are of an age when they can handle it, before… Continue reading »
a version of this was published in the 2Byou section of The Philippine Daily Inquirer on May 22 2009. You don’t know rock ‘n’ roll – or in Pinoy slang rakenrol – until you’ve lived it. No, I’m not talking about turning back time and living in the 60′s and 70′s. What I’m talking about is going through a day of only surprises, being made to imbibe the enterprise of letting go and letting be: rakenrol! as Pepe Smith has… Continue reading »
a version of this essay was published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer on May 4 2009. It took a while to get used to the sounds of Rico Blanco’s solo album Your Universe (Warner Music, 1998). It didn’t help that the first song “Say Forever” begins with a distinct electronica sound, made even more disconcerting by Blanco employing what sounds like a British accent (I’m at the central stay-shun/Without a des-ti-nay-shan). It has everything that would make a non-fan move… Continue reading »
a version of this was published in The Philippine Daily Inquirer on 13 April 2009. Over lunch, the foursome more famous as the AngFourgettables talks about their nickname, Charice Pempengco, Arnel Pineda, the all-OPM concert month, and everything else in between. They haven’t disbanded, if that’s what you’re thinking. In fact they insist on two things here: one, that all they’ve done is lie low as a group which allowed their individual careers to flourish, and two, that they’d really rather… Continue reading »
it’s just too much. maybe, too soon. anyone who has seen me since FrancisM’s death, anyone who has read this blog’s past two entries, would know that I love FrancisM. that i’m a fan, that i respect him as an artist and person, that i admire the kind of convictions that he had, the lines he crossed to prove that he would die for them.
a version of this essay appears in the Philippine Daily Inquirer: Mourning for FrancisM I can imagine that this doesn’t apply to many Filipinos of a different social class and generation from mine. But for a particular sector who, in the 1990s, was enamored by American pop and rap, who were at an age in which they needed a sense of identity in the context of this country, there was Francis Magalona. And this is not to say that he… Continue reading »
the real thang is coming out in the Inquirer daw this week. but just had to get this out of my head, about why exactly i’m so sad, and am in fact, in mourning: because FrancisM just might be able to take credit for the kind of activism I found I was open to, having been exposed to him as a rapper and as a Pinoy when i was a 14-year old girl, who thought that rap — among many… Continue reading »
*a version of this was published in the Philippine Daily Inquirer on March 5 2009.* It is difficult not to like these guys who make up Red Jumpsuit Apparatus even when they have easily been dismissed as just another emo band. Because in truth, Ronnie Winter (lead vocals), Duke Kitchens (guitar, piano), Joey Westwood (bass), Jon Wilkes (drums) and Matt Carter (guitar), will not presume you like them. They won’t even assume that you know them from Adam. Instead they… Continue reading »
when i heard about what happened at the U.P. Fair on Friday the 13th, i didn’t think it was anything extraordinary. i’ve been going to the u.p. fair since 1995, and what the blogosphere has labeled the “jologs” have always been part and parcel of the affair. even then, and everytime i’ve gone, an imagined mosh pit is expected, some minor scuffles might happen, and what i’ve learned to do is get out of the way. then and now, i’ve… Continue reading »
There aresongs that become your guilty pleasure, the kind that you don’t admit you like, just because they’re too pop, or are downright cheesy. Many albums get hidden in the back of your closet, a little secret you keep to yourself, even when you’ve memorized it inside and out. This is exactly what A.K.A Cassandra, KC Concepcion’s debut CD is. Because truth to tell, there is really nothing spectacular about it. It’s an album that subsists on plenty of remakes… Continue reading »
The collaboration between a rock band and an orchestra isn’t new. But an OPM band that does it well, a collaboration that reinvents the band’s songs, and a band that survives through a live concert with a full-piece orchestra? That’s something else in these shores. In Sugarfree Live! Sugarfree and the Manila Symphony Orchestra as conducted by Chino David proves all of these as possible, and becomes a testament to how concerts and CDs like these can be done well.
Many things were said about the Eraserheads Reunion concert, not one of them critical, every one hopeful for a repeat or continuation. Which is understandable for those of us who are fans. To us, a reunion has always seemed impossible, even if – or maybe because – all we knew about the breakup was that it was a bad one. Too, loyal fans who have followed the individual careers and lives of Ely, Raimund, Buddy and Marcus must rightfully feel… Continue reading »
What’s in a name? In choosing to buy the album Radiosurfing by Kenyo, it meant nothing. Because seeing the face of Mcoy Fundales, old frontman of Orange and Lemons, was enough reason to get the album, never mind that his new band’s name did not, in any way, strike a cord, nor did it seem to work with wit or humor. Without thinking, and with memories of his creativity as part of Orange and Lemons and as housemate on last… Continue reading »
It’s always a struggle, whether or not to spend good hard-earned money on OPM CDs that have no Tagalog songs in them. But then again, maybe an all-English album is but a measure of how music-making still remains a luxury, i.e., those get their albums out there are those who can afford to. With that struggle down the drain, The Vince Noir Project’s self-titled album had much going for it. Listening to it at the music store, I cajoled my husband… Continue reading »
It was undoubtedly poised for flight. Songbird was to be the only musical-variety show in a sea of reality shows, soap operas, asianovelas and the few sitcoms that have local TV’s daily primetime covered. It has as star Regine Velasquez, upon whom the label “Songbird” has been bestowed, and who is known for reinvention and defamiliarization – you think you know her and then she does something extraordinary; you imagine she’s done everything imaginable with her voice, and then she… Continue reading »