Insightful, Hopeful

It was only today, that I was able to fully watch ASAP and SOP, the two Sunday variety shows on Philippine tv. During the last months, I just watched one or two segments because there was really nothing new to watch.

But today, I was excited because in ASAP, the album tribute for APO entitled "Kami nAPO muna", was featured. This album was similar to the Eraserheads Anthology album, wherein different bands and solo artists recorded their own rendition of the songs popularized by e-heads. Now, it's time to pay tribute to APO.

I've always liked APO's music. I was always contemplating on buying the Best of Apo album, but never did. Perhaps because I had mp3s of the ones I liked. My favorites are: Batang-bata Ka Pa, Paano and When I Met You.

When I saw them on tv awhile ago singing "Sa'n Na Nga Bang Barkada", I remembered my high school barkada because of our recent mini reunion (see previous post).

Some of the bands featured in the album played in ASAP. I was again disappointed why the resident talents of ASAP had to sing along the guests (SOP does this too). This affects the performance especially because the resident host/singer most of the time, fails to blend with the band.  Anyway, I still liked the renditions of some songs especially the one by Imago, Spongecola and Barbie. Kamikazee's Dobeedoo was really fun, the lead singer gave it his all. But he seemed drunk hehe.  I guess that's their style of music.

I thought of buying the album today, but they showed the other album which contains the cover versions and the original version on another cd but these will be in one package. I think I'll wait for that one which they said will be out next week.

While surfing, I found a good review of the album by J Panganiban, and an article on Inq7.  There's also a tribute concert with the same title on Aug. 22, and APO will have a concert on Sept. 2.

Some weeks ago, I also saw a link to Jim Paredes' blog. It was exciting to read the blog of someone famous, and who is admirable. In here, you can read Jim's own thoughts on the album, and his return to Manila. 

Meanwhile, on SOP, I found out that Jonalyn Viray and Brenan Espartinez won in the World Championships of the Performing Arts (WCOPA). This was the same contest where Jed Madella won last year. I'm really happy for these two singers especially for Jonalyn. I was rooting for her in the Pinoy Pop Superstar grand finals because I watched her as a contender, and liked her version of "Run to You". I knew her physical features are not the typical star-quality features that Filipino fans are looking for, that is why I was worried she wouldn't make it big. But because of these awards she got, she showed everyone that she is very talented.

The list of awards they won are in this article (note: the article is written in Tagalog).

I was also elated to know that the Cercado sisters, who were contestants in QTV11's FamJam, also won in the World Championships. I learned it from the article written by Ms. Armida Siguion-Reyna. This group of sisters were like professionals as they belted away songs like "Emotions" during their stay at FamJam. But unfortunately, they did not win the contest. Good thing, they were given opportunities like this, joining the World Championships, to showcase their extraordinary talent.

While surfing, I also came upon an article on South Border's US tour. It also told that one of their songs was being played in a radio station in the USA. The article was written early this year, on a site called Carousel Pinoy. I think this is one of the Filipino online newspapers based in the US. Well, the band is back in the Philippines because Vince and Jay celebrated their birthdays on SOP. I so admire Jay Durias because he's such a great songwriter.

Extra:

I was surprised to see that my blog was accessed through the femalenetwork website. Turns out, someone read my thoughts on Philippine Idol and posted a link to that entry. Too bad that entry was not even solely dedicated to Philippine Idol, and now people will be reading it. Oh well.

It's also unfortunate that I have not been able to watch the show recently because of my trip and today because I had some guests. Today was supposed to be the announcement of the 24 contestants. 

I saw the link to Francis M's blog on femalenetwork forum.