FIRST, the bad news: Sting will not be playing this year or at any time in the future at the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival in Puerto Galera.
There goes the thought that we, in the crowd, would be chanting Roxanne’s name and singing along at the top of our voices that our souls would be up there on a summer night, with all the stars lighting the sky and giving the festival a magical glow.
The way I see it, Sting, his music, and the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival are a perfect match. But there are some realities that must be faced when it comes to artists of Sting’s stature and the requirements needed to bring them in.
Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival cofounder and festival director Croatian-Australian Miro Grgic said talent fee and venue capacity are the two huge things that are making it impossible for them to bring Sting to perform at the festival.
World-class acts
Now, the good news: Beyond Sting, Miro and his team has again overachieved and have assembled a lineup that is probably the strongest in the five-year history of the festival. Headlining this year’s festival are Ky-Mani Marley, Fred Wesley and the New JBs and Taylor McFerrin.
If your musical knowledge is just limited to what the radio plays these days, then there is a very strong possibility that their names will not even register a blimp in your brain.
Here is my issue with most radio stations these days. It is no longer Top 40. It has gotten worst. It is brain-dead bubble gum disposable music, coupled with a lot of loudmouth, tactless and almost-zero talent disc jockeys.
Raise your hands if you miss the old 103.5 K-Lite, 99.5 RT, and NU 107 and their intelligent choice of music. Oh, and 97.1 dwLS, which you all know now as Barangay LS, also used to be really good.
Anyway, Ky-Mani and Taylor are sons of famous musicians, whose musical imprint will never be forgotten. Kiddies, all it will take for you to find out who they are and about the great music they play is a little research using your Google dirty fingers.
As for Fred Wesley and the New JBs, the key letters there are “J” and “B,” which stand for “James Brown.” You would be utterly hopeless musically if you do not even slightly know the godfather of soul.
A venue for new music bands
According to Miro, the Malasimbo Music and Arts Festival in a way has trail-blazed a new path for music festivals here in the country since its inception five years ago. For him, the festival has also provided a new venue for local bands and musicians to showcase their talents to a relatively large international audience. I totally agree with him on both counts.
Before Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival, there were only those beer-brand music concerts featuring mainstream bands. Also, the festival, just like Mayrics and Club Dredd in the not-so-old days, provided talented bands that get no mainstream love with a platform to perform and be seen.
Hopefully, the growth of the Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival is a sign that maybe our countrymen’s musical tastes and preferences are improving beyond what is being played on the radio these days.
Underground music
Miro says Filipinos are now no longer bound by the commercial scene, and are now looking more toward underground music.
This is where Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival must tread the fine line. The bands and artists they showcase are the ones that music critics love.
They are the ones college students and yuppies term as best-kept secrets in music.
Miro and his Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival team can rightfully claim, when these artists become huge names in the music industry, which at some point they will, that they once played in their festival.
With that in mind, does Miro want the festival to remain pure in its agenda of giving underground bands and artists a platform to play their music? Or will commercialism eventually catch up with them?
The Malasimbo Music & Arts Festival will happen from March 6 to 8. This will be followed by the first-ever Malasimbo Lights and Dance Festival from March 13 to 15. Miro and his team will be officially kicking in summer in the Philippines with those two high-octane events.
Oh, and maybe, just maybe, even if Sting will not be coming around soon, there are plans to bring in Inner Circle in the future to perform at the festival.
That would definitely make people sweat (a la la la la long) while waiting for it to happen.
For comments, suggestions and reactions, I can be reached at raalzona@yahoo.com.