IT’S officially the start of Love Week, and if you want to go with the flow, you’d probably have already made reservations for a special dinner, ordered those flowers for your significant other despite their sky-rocketing prices, or you already have all those Valentine show tickets on hand.
There are two concerts that we are pretty excited about. First is the head-to-head showcase of two of the most indefatigable vocal groups this country is so proud and privileged to have: The New Minstrels and The CompanY.
The one-night-only vocal spectacle, billed as Happy Together” happens tonight, February 13, at the PICC Plenary Hall on the reclaimed land along Roxas Boulevard. We are so thrilled that timeless singers, like Chad Borja, Eugene Villaluz, Joey Albert, Ding Mercado and Louie Reyes, will come together once more and share their respective gifts of brilliant vocal performances and show-stopping tunes.
Described as the ultimate showband during the 1970s, members of The New Minstrels have had successful solo careers after the group disbanded. We have followed the respective careers of Borja and Albert, both of whom are cancer survivors, and they have allowed music to heal and strengthen them—and touch the lives of others, too.
Borja is now based in Davao City with his lovely wife Emy, who gave up her airline job a long time ago to be a homemaker. The couple has two lovely daughters: Gabrielle, who got her dad’s vocal gifts and skills, and who’s starting her own music career in Davao; and Mafy, a promising teenage golfer who has won many championships and is being groomed as the next important female golfer in Asia.
“I’m just happy for every new show I’m invited to do,” Borja enthused, when we bumped into him recently. “I guess music keeps me both young and grounded, and I’m glad I continue to part of shows like Happy Together. It’s really groundbreaking to have the best of our respective generations to perform together onstage,” he added.
We’ve always been vocal about how much we adore The CompanY, and how much we emulate its members. Despite some changes in its composition, we have followed the group for the past 30 years and watched almost all its fabulous performances and well-staged shows.
High on our list of favorite love ballads are these two original songs of The CompanY: “Muntik na Kitang Minahal” and “Pakisabi na Lang”.
We are glad former member Reuben Laurente is in town from his work overseas to fill in for the group’s newest member OJ Mariano, who was recently diagnosed with a type of blood disease and per his physician’s strict orders, Mariano needed to rest and recuperate.
Laurente, who was with the group for 14 long and fruitful years, will share his soothing tenor voice and create beautiful harmony with Moy Ortiz, Annie Quintos, Sweet Plantado and Cecile Bautista to entertain the crowd tonight.
THE ONE AND ONLY
We’re just glad that the other concert we are looking forward to catch doesn’t fall on the same night as that of The Minstrels and The CompanY. Lea Salonga’s family-produced Songs From the Stage is slated for two nights, February 17 and 18, also at the PICC Plenary Hall.
We finally caught up with Salonga a few weeks ago, after not having seen each other for a few years.
She shared her excitement about her coming post-Valentine presentation. “I’d like to take this opportunity to test new pieces, songs the audience doesn’t expect me to do,” she told us. “We’re avoiding a lot of those tried-and-tested songs and trying out new ones. That way, I get challenged. This is how I look at it: if something makes me excited and nervous at the same time, then that is probably a good thing!”
Salonga added, “We might have some of the older stuff, but we will definitely put a spin on them. By using new arrangements, we hope that the songs evoke something different, or convey another story that has nothing to do with the musical they came from. When I sing something that I have been singing for years, I make sure that my storytelling is clear—and that helps keep it fresh.”
The most globally recognized Filipino singer-actress also mentioned that she will include a few titles from the more recent musicals successfully staged and produced across the globe, including Manuel Lin Miranda’s Hamilton. “I’ll be doing ‘Burn’ from Hamilton”.
After her Manila shows, Salonga will be preparing for her North America concert tour in May.