M-16s and Fingers Crossed.


Saw a story in yesterday's Manila Bulletin about Jr Kilat being one of the nominees of this year's NU 107's Rock Awards, for "Ako si M-16." Nice.

They're up against some of the music scene's heavy hitters, namely The Dawn, Orange and Lemons, and Bamboo. Am waiting for a message from Budoy about how they did --- ataya! left my phone home --- of all the --- aaaaaaaarrrrrrgh!


Keeping my fingers crossed.


***

Several hours ago, a friend of mine, Marc Nadela, invited me to Handuraw, where several lokal bands were slated to play. I forgot their names now, but i do recall Marc telling me that the line-up will be playing good ol' classic rock. Had to work nightshift, so there. atay.

Here in Cebu, the lokal music scene is divided between indie and pop; indie bands steeped their indie sounds (read: individual, unique, original) and showbands playing their popular music (read: covers, mostly). sure, there are other bands who cover other bands as much as there are record labels with offices or distributors scattered throughout the metropolis. but the bigwigs who do the deciding have their eyes set on imperial manila, where the plethora of bands have a better chance of making it to the biggies because of two key elements. One, geography (you don't need to catch the next boat to watch a concert in the next province); and two, the audience is legion.

In lokal cebu, there are three main elements: there's reggae, the myriad genres of rock, and pop.

and then there's that ol' bastion made of hard, solid riffs, classic rock. another friend of mine, Luigi, once lent me a cassette tape of a Hendrix compilation. for a week, i was in nirvana (pun intended). then i had to return his tape back. atay napud.

for marc, luigi, tim (marc's longtime friend and bassist), and a throng of others rooted in the classics, it's become second skin; to play the music in their blood, to sing in the face of shifting prefential faddism and strive on, spreading the music to lokals who cared to listen at venues that dared to take them in.

in lokal music scene, it's not the bragging rights, nor the tracks recorded that matter in the long run. to these fellows of the rhythm, it's all about keeping the faith, playing the music, and enriching the lives they touch.

for now, whether the lokal audience still craves for lokal rock 'n roll or not, i'm keeping my fingers crossed. Jimi Hendrix waxed poetic and said it best,

Purple haze all in my brain
Lately things just don’t seem the same
Actin’ funny, but I don’t know why
’scuse me while I kiss the sky





(lots of love to www.lyricsfreak.com/ for that piece of poetic lyric.)