Untwisted VortexMusic

Filipino Music Talent

RT Cunningham — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 05:39:15 +0000

Americans may have invented the music videos, but they certainly aren't the only ones producing them. My case in point is about Filipino music videos. Many music videos are more than just music videos. Classic music videos, such as "Thriller" (Michael Jackson) and "Blue Jean" (David Bowie), are mini-movies. The Filipino music videos are no different in that regard, although I haven't seen any quite that long. You just have to view one of the many Tagalog music videos on YouTube to appreciate true Filipino music talent.

Parokya ni Edgar

I saw the music video for "Mr. Suave" on The Filipino Channel (TFC) when I still lived in the US. The song is performed in Tagalog, but it's catchy enough that you don't need to know what the words mean.

The band is most lauded for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of famous songs. The band has transcended musical genres while providing comic relief to their listeners.

Cueshé

I heard "Ulan" hundreds of times before I decided to track down the music video on YouTube. It's another song in Tagalog and I don't understand most of the lyrics, but I like it nonetheless.

Cueshé is a 6-piece OPM (Original Pilipino Music/Original Pinoy Music/Original Philippine Music) Pop-Rock band that hails from Cebu, Philippines.

Black Eyed Peas

"Bebot" is a Tagalog song from the Black Eyed Peas' 2005 album Monkey Business. The term "Bebot" is Filipino slang for "pretty woman", "hot chick", "hottie", or "baby/babe". The Black Eyed Peas is a three-time (maybe more since I last looked) Grammy Award-winning American hip-hop group from Los Angeles, California.

My older son was prancing around (back when we were in the US) and repeating a verse from this song long before I knew what it referred to. Although it's an American band, at least one member hails from the Philippines and he displays his Filipino music talent whenever he can.

The Papaya Dance

Invented by Filipino celebrity Edu Manzano, the Papaya Dance became a dance craze that swept the country and was even aired on American news stations.

The popularity of the dance dwindled, as so many fad dances do, but it was entertaining while it lasted.

There are many more examples of Filipino music talent on YouTube and you just have to search with the right terms in order to find them.

Misconceptions

My wife, a Filipina, calls the Filipino "the great imitator". I beg to differ. Sure, I've heard a lot of cover bands in the Philippines using American music for their material, but it only takes a few samples of their original music to see that Filipinos have just as much talent as any American in the music industry. Take a look at Arnel Pineda, for example.

Truly, the only people who can't appreciate Filipino music are those who've never taken the time to experience it. My own relatives in the US are among that group of people.

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Hip Hop and You Don't Stop – Music CDs for Christmas?

RT Cunningham — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 06:11:39 +0000

Hip hop music is something that I've ignored, for the most part, for the last 30 years. Yes, it's been around that long. For the last couple of years, however, listening to it really hasn't been an option since I'm forced to listen to hip hop music of all kinds around every corner here in the Philippines.

Old School and New School Hip Hop Music

Ask me to tell you the difference between old school and new school hip hop and I'll laugh at you. I haven't a clue. When it comes to music, I learn things through osmosis. For example, I know that LL Cool J's Radio album from 1985 was a considered a "new school blueprint".

When I want to know anything about the hip hop scene (rarely), I generally visit websites like "The Hip Hop Corner". Consulting websites that cater to hip hop music, and anything related to hip hop, is a much better idea than asking the people about it in my neck of the woods.

Hip Hop Pervasiveness

I can complain a little. My neighbors seem to think I want to listen to hip hop music at all hours of the day and night (I don't) and insist on playing their music much louder than necessary.

On the rare occasions that I use a Jeepney to get downtown, versus using my own car, the driver insists on making sure his passengers can hear his favorite hip hop artists as well as he can.

I'm not knocking hip hop music. I actually like some it, even though I'm considered an old fart at 48 who probably shouldn't enjoy listening to anything but old-time rock and roll.

Hip Hop Beats

One of my nephews (and I can't remember which one) asked me to find websites where he could buy hip hop beats (with my money, of course) and I looked around a little while. There are plenty of places on the web where they're bought, sold and traded.

I don't remember why he wanted to buy the hip hop beats, but after I went to all the trouble to find some websites for him, he seemed to be uninterested.

Hip Hop Music CDs for Christmas?

I admit that I have some hip hop music on the external USB hard drive that died on me, but not a whole lot. The interesting thing is that every time I played a track, relatives of mine would break out in dance moves.

You see, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. On the rare occasions that I play music through my speakers as opposed to my headset, I'll crank up the volume so that everyone in the compound can hear it. In my futile attempts to annoy people, I get the opposite response. They like hearing it. Of course, the hip hop music that I have is the best of the best.

A thought occurred to me yesterday (and yes, it hurts when I think) about giving CDs as gifts for Christmas. Music CDs can be had for the cheap here in the Philippines (150 pesos or less) and would be great gifts for music aficionados. It was a brief thought because I realized that my relatives appreciate cold, hard cash more than anything. That way, they can decide whether they want to use it for something more important, like food.

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Arnel Pineda and Journey: A Philippines Success Story

RT Cunningham — Fri, 23 May 2008 05:50:23 +0000

Ever since I mentioned Journey's discovery of Arnel Pineda, I've been following along to see how things transpire for him.

Articles of Interest

Someone went through great effort to build a nice Wikipedia page on Arnel Pineda and included recent news about his involvement with Journey.

"Immigrant Success Stories" (dead link) currently shows "Arnel Pineda's Journey To America As Faithfully Told" near the top of the page. After reading the story, it makes me question the intelligence of the immigration officers at the embassy. Arnel Pineda lucked out because the officer actually saw him perform. What would have happened if the officer hadn't seen the performance? I'm pretty sure the visa would have been denied since they had already categorized him as a "nutjob". I guess they can't look up names like "Arnel Pineda" on Google and YouTube at the embassy.

Current Events

Arnel Pineda is already touring with Journey and they've performed in Chile and Las Vegas, Nevada (US) as evidenced by all the videos available on YouTube. He has been featured on television shows in both the Philippines and the US.

The band has already recorded a new album titled "Revelation", which will be available exclusively through the Wal-Mart chains in a few days. Guess what? I can't get it here! With new renditions of "Don't Stop Believin'", "Wheel In The Sky", "Faithfully", "Open Arms" and other classic Journey hits, this is a "must have" addition for my personal collection.

[Update: My wife is buying it and bringing it back with her. I love that woman!]

Other Notes

Arnel Pineda started singing at the age of 15. When he was with one of his former bands, "Amo", he played at clubs here in Olongapo City. When my relatives heard the news about him becoming the lead singer of Journey, they were ecstatic since most of them had seen him perform live. Yes, he was performing the Journey songs even back in the late 80s and 90s.

An interesting aside to all of this is that there are reports that Arnel Pineda sought out Journey because he'd heard they were looking for a new lead singer. The reality is that Neal Schon (of Journey) sought Arnel out after seeing his videos on YouTube.

I will be surprised if "Journey's Revelation" doesn't go platinum. I'll be continuing to follow along as time progresses just to watch it happen.

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Dancing Inmates of Cebu, Philippines

RT Cunningham — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 16:23:02 +0000

This is a popular video of the inmates at the prison in Cebu, Philippines practicing a dance number for Michael Jackson's "Thriller". Maybe it isn't as productive as someone might want, but at least the inmates aren't getting into trouble!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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I'm a Police Music Fan

RT Cunningham — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 06:12:12 +0000

I have been a fan of The Police since the early eighties when I first heard them on the radio. I collected all their music on cassette tapes (you remember those, right?) and then later on compact disc. As my older son grew up, he borrowed a lot of my music to listen in his room and all of the discs eventually got scratched and unplayable. As much as I loved their music, I couldn't picture myself hunting down and buying the CDs all over again. Imagine my surprise when I found out a new album was released on June 5, 2007, called "The Police: The Definitive Police Collection". It contains 28 of the best tracks The Police ever recorded in a 2-CD set.

You can find a lot of current information about The Police by clicking: Police CD. If you want more information as well as samples of their music, I have included an image below that you can click on.

Please click on this to go and view an awesome banner where you can watch The Police's videos, listen to tracks from The Police's new 2 CD hits collection, enter to win a trip to NYC to see The Police in concert and even view details about their current world tour.

When you arrive there and after the banner finishes loading, just hover over the square with the word "ROLLOVER" at the beginning to see a list of:

Videos – Clicking on this will present you with eight videos to choose from right now.
Track List / Jukebox – Clicking on this will present you with a scrolling menu which contains the track listings as well as cover art. Three of the songs can be played right now.
Tour – Clicking on this will open a new page which shows their current tour news and world tour schedule.
Enter The Contest – Click on this and then click on "ENTER TO WIN".
Send To Friend – Click on this and fill in the blanks to send the information to a friend.
Ringtones – Clicking on this will open a new page where you can purchase the corresponding ringtones for the album.

I plan to buy the 2-CD collection to replace the scratched CDs I had to throw away. If you're an eighties music fan like I am, you owe it to yourself to get these CDs for your own collection. An eighties collection of music isn't complete without the hits from The Police!

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