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For the past 17 years, The Filipino Express has provided the Filipino American community the best news, arts and entertainment coverage from around the United States and the Philippines.
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This website includes selected articles from this week's edition of the Filipino Express. Not all the stories published in the printed version appear on this site.
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Songs we don’t deserve to hear: Part deux
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Apple’s mail application - MAIL, my default mail client, has been set to sound-off a “popping” sound whenever there’s new mail in the mailbox. In the last 2 weeks, it has been popping like an AK47 on speed.
The reason: “Songs we don’t deserve to hear”
(www.filipinoexpress.com – January 2-8) – my article about the perils of listening to some of Lito Camo’s novelty songs. The reactions I got from readers about the article were mixed. Some totally agreed with my opinion like it was the “Battlecry of Balintawak”, while others thought of it as, simply, blasphemous.
Well, I could care less. As a person involved in the music trade, I simply find the songs fundamentally bad. Musically, “Otso-Otso”, “Bow-Wow-Wow” and “Spaghetting Pababa” sounds like some music program templates, copied and pasted to meet a deadline; or some re-hashed melodies of days gone by. As I said in my original article, these tunes were written just for the money.
What made these tunes worse are the lyrics. They neither inspire nor entertain. And there are no clear messages that would be beneficial to the human species or to art itself. They do not produce a sense of beauty towards nature and life itself. They simply mean nothing: Just gibberish to fit a melody structure.
Is this music art? Well, here’s basic definition of art:
Art is: Human effort to imitate, supplement, alter, or counteract the work of nature.
1. The conscious production or arrangement of sounds, colors, forms, movements, or other elements in a manner that affects the sense of beauty, specifically the production of the beautiful in a graphic or
plastic medium.
2. The study of these activities.
3. The product of these activities; human works of beauty considered as a group.
If you find the beauty of nature and life in “Bow-Wow-Wow”, then good for you, but count me out. Art has to be about life, nature and beauty - “tayo’y mag otso-otso” – doesn’t convey that to me at all.
I might have convinced some that these songs are not art, but the big question remains: Why do Filipinos buy these types of music?
The answer lies in our deep history of confused heritage and economic strife.
Given our struggles as a people, we prefer the easy way out of our miseries and rather opt for the quick laughs than the heavy philosophizing about life and nature. We simply cannot afford to think any more. Our minds are so preoccupied with making our meals at least thrice a day, and there is just no room for reflecting on the nature of beauty. So due to these dire conditions throughout our history, we have pulled music out of the pedestal of art and downgraded it to mere entertainment.
We have come to accept that music and entertainment are the same.
And for a people overwhelmed with ills, entertainment is the hottest drug. That is why “LITO CAMO MUSIC” sells.
Though this concept is not bad, it is just plain wrong. Music, before anything else, has to be art first. And hungry or not, that’s the way it is.
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Ted Reyes is a musician, composer, record producer and journalist based in NYC. If you have any comments you can visit his website at www.tedreyes.com or email him at tedreyes@mac.com
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MANILA --- Alessandra de Rossi, the lead actress in the Singaporean horror flick “The Maid” is known in showbiz as a frank and candid person. She speaks her mind, she’s open-minded and sometimes has the”loud” personality that gays in showbiz have.
All in all, her persona paints a picture of a liberated Alex (her nickname) who’s always ready to bare? Wrong! The young actress doesn’t want anything to do with exposing her private parts in a movie now, and especially for men’s magazines. In fact she got mad during a pictorial for Maxxim Singapore when she was brought sexy and revealing laced lingeries to use.
“Tinalakan (scolded) ko talaga sila,” shared Alex regarding her experience with the Maxxim staff who thought her to be an underwear model. “Sabi ko underwear for teens hindi pang pokpok (prostitute). So we did the pictorial again... kailangang gawin ko yun kasi baka apihin ako.”
She also remembered that when she was doing “Azucena,” based on a script written by then FHM Philippines Editor-in-Chief Eric Ramos, she was always asking when she would be featured in the magazine.
“When I got older, I was wishing that he wouldn’t get me because I realized then that I could not do it. I didn’t have the guts,” she said in Tagalog.
She did have exploratory talks to be in FHM and other men’s magazine in the past but which she declined all their offers. Her decision is personal and she stressed that she doesn’t have anything against women who became covers or were featured in the men’s magazine.
“Ibang pananaw ko ibang pananaw nila. I’m not against sa mga taong ganun, ako lang talaga. May mga pinanghahawakan lang ako sa akin. Ayaw kong magiging cause ka ng kasalanan ng ibang tao,” she declared.
But she wouldn’t mind at all if she were to pose in a sexy attire for a women’s magazine. And if she poses, she’d project what’s needed for the pictorial’s theme but not to be inviting.
“I’m not ready to be every man’s fantasy,” she stressed. “Hindi ko lang feel ang ganun. I know it’s their right if they want to fantasize about me pero hindi yung maghuhubad ako para lalo mo akong pagpantasyahan. hindi ako bubukaka sa magazine at sabihing hi pagpantasyahan ninyo ako.”
To this day, Alex would even call the attention of her friends when she sees them wearing very revealing clothes or they’re in magazines almost wearing nothing. Having a sex appeal is not a problem though. Her sister Assunta who has bared in her movies never irked her but she wouldn’t follow suit. She also admits to being a loud mouth at times and with some “kalandian” but confessed she’s really a conservative person.
“Hindi ako ganun ganun. Tama na yung minsan na makita na lang nila ako at wow kuntisin ko yan sa thoughts ko,” laughed Alex. “Pero hindi ako pa ang magprovoke sa yo na pagpantasyahan niyo ako.”
She understands too if men look at her with malice but she rather they won’t. Men with malice turn her off and she would tell them off immediately if she feels they’re malicious!
As for her type in a man, she’s always attracted to brainy men she said
“Hindi nga ako mahilig sa guwapo...gusto ko malakas ang dating, masarap kausap na matalino. Gusto ko smart yung alam mong minsan natatanga ka. Guwapo ang utak!”
In “The Maid” Alessandra is Rosa Dimaano, a Filipino maid who arrives in Singapore on the first day of the Chinese 7th month. Being new, she’s unaware of the tradition and she accidentally broke some of the rules of the Hungry Ghost Festival. The result - nightmare for the young OFW. Directed by Kelvin Tong, she is joined by likes of Shu Cheng Chen, Hui Fang Hong and Benny Soh.
From MediaCorp Raintree Pictures, it was reported that “The Maid” broke box office records in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore earning Alessandra de Rossi the tagline “Asia’s Box Office Queen!” (MNS)
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JASMINE Soriano Trias (born 3 November 1986), the Filipino-American third place finalist in the 2004 “American Idol”, released her self-titled debut album, which will be in stores on July 12.
Her new CD introduces an edgier, rhythm and blues-based sound. From the single, “Excuses”(already number 1 in the Philippines) to “Sexy Boy”, with its playful relaxed grooves, Jasmine Trias soothes her listeners into forgetting about the hustle surrounding their busy lives from the moment they hear her soulfully comforting voice.
Jasmine has quickly become a triple threat artist, expecting to play a singer and drummer in the film entitled “All Girl Band”, written by the Academy Award-winning Sherman Brothers’ son, Jeff Sherman.
Richard and Robert Sherman’s works include “Mary Poppins”, “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Jungle Book” and “The Parent Trap.”
ClockWork Entertainment Executive Producers Debbie Hammond and Gary Greenberg have had success with acts like DREAM, TQ, Fantasia and Bone, and Thugs N Harmony.
Jasmine’s debut album is being distributed throughout the United States, the Philippines, and Japan by Universal Music and Aloha Music. It contains 14 songs produced and written by multi-platinum industry leaders, like Diane Warren and Vincent Herbert, and a remake by Sean “P. Diddy” Combs.
Readers can find Jasmine’s tour schedule and places to buy her CD on her official fan site at allthatjas.net or her official site jasminetrias.net.
Jasmine posts her personal updates on www.myspace.com/jasminetrias
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MANILA --- Juris and Chin of the MYMP (a.k.a. Make Your Mama Proud) are the newest main stays of ABS-CBNís “ASAP 2006 Mania.” This recent development in their singing career is another addition to their long list of achievements which include being named as the best selling artist for 2005. MYMP is the only local act to be honored with a sixtuple platinum award (six times platinum) for their album “Version& Beyond.” The album contains most of their hits like “Get Me,” “Tell Me Where It Hurts,” “Especially for You” and “Talaga Naman.”
The long-running Sunday musical show along with its top performers and hosts officially welcomed MYMP last Sunday. The duo had an extravagant production number with mainstays Zsa Zsa Padilla, Vina Morales, Piolo Pascual and Nikki Gil.
In the show, Juris and Chin sang their latest single, “Iíll Never Get Over You,” from their latest album, a concert video, produced by Ivory Music. The album is a collection of the songs they performed in their major concert last October at the Music Museum.
MYMP is currently preparing for a repeat concert of “MYMP Best,” held last November 18 at the Araneta Coliseum. It will be staged again at the Big Dome on February 3.
The duo is also preparing for their first US tour slated on March 29 to April 20.
Juris and Chin are both products of Miriam College. Juris finished a degree in Psychology while Chin is still completing nine units of his Advertising course.
When Juris learned to sing the song, “Tomorrow” at five years old, she knew then that singing will always be a part of her. But she knew, too, that like her mom, an obstetrician, she will become a doctor someday. That was the dream of her parents for her. That was also the reason why she took up Psychology.
Chin, on the other hand, described himself as a late bloomer. He learned how to sing when he was 17, the same age when he discovered his passion for guitar playing.
Juris was a popular figure in their school as she was actively involved in various school programs. One day, when Juris was asked to sing, she refused to have a minus one for an accompaniment. So, they had to look for a guitarist, who turned out to be Chin.
When their paths crossed then, he had already coined the name Make Your Mama Proud which was shortened to MYMP in memory of his late mom.
They have been together for sometime. But the two have never been romantically linked. Both think that itís impossible since Chin has a girlfriend while Juris just broke up with her boyfriend. Right now, sheís entertaining a manliligaw, a businessman.
Juris is 27, while Chin admitted his age is burado na in the calendar. (MNS)
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