HIROSHIMA, Japan — It was a great joy to finally witness a performance by the legendary pianist Martha Argerich. My brother and I grew up listening to her renditions of the masters — Beethoven, Mozart, and Chopin most especially — and I tried, but failed, to watch her in Berlin back in 2023, when she...
Category: Music
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‘Matutunaw Din Lahat ng Nyebe’: SB19 and the Filipino Dream
BANGKOK—I am inside a performance hall here in Central World, one of Bangkok’s biggest malls, together with mostly-Filipino fans who are waiting for SB19 to begin their concert. Most of the fans, who call themselves “A’TIN” (pronounced “eighteen”), seem to feel at home in the venue, singing along to every song even without the lyrics...
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Portraits in Jazz: Riki Gonzales returns to the blues
(Twentieth of a series) On a dreary November evening last year, I sent a message to composer-guitarist Riki Gonzales, who was then performing aboard a cruise ship. I asked him to send me a short video clip of wherever he was at that moment, hoping that a glimpse of the world beyond my walls—whether night...
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Italian violinist Alessio Benvenuti is at home in the Philippines
Holding their violins and bows, Alessio Benvenuti and Sara Gonzales walked to the “stage” cordoned off by retractable belt barriers. Within minutes they were playing Antonio Molina’s “Hating Gabi,” weaving a blanket of serenity over those present. They segued to Niccolò Paganini’s “Violin Duo,” a piece said to be not the composer’s best-known piece but...
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Portraits in Jazz: Color her Skarlet
(Nineteenth of a series) I’ve known Skarlet Brown longer than almost any other jazz artist featured in this section. That’s probably why it took me so long to tell her story: I was too close, knew too much, and wasn’t quite sure how to frame her wild and magnificent mess. In fact, my first piece...
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Portraits in Jazz: And in walked Chuck Joson
(Eighteenth of a series) There’s always something disarming about young musicians who play jazz like they were born sitting at a baby grand, striking silken chords long before they could say their names. It’s not even about sass either; if anything, these guys are those that tuck themselves in a quiet corner of the bar...
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Morobeats invite Filipino artists to take up ‘Teritoryo: West Philippine Sea Rap Challenge’
“Wala naman dapat pag-awayan kung di lang kayo sakim/ Karagatan at lupain pilit na inaangkin/ Di pa kayang tanggapin sadyang makitid lang ang utak/ Filipino ang tatak kailanma’y di pasisindak.” Morobeats rapper Dizzy Caday performed before a crowd of journalists on Monday morning, chanting in dynamic rhyme about the Philippines’ fight for sovereign rights...
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4th Impact show off their vocal chops in a Sunday Mass in California
LOS ANGELES, California—Ditching their signature look that incorporated skin-baring costumes and flashy makeup, members of the Filipino girl group 4th Impact delighted churchgoers at a celebration of the Holy Mass one serene Sunday afternoon. Wearing trousers and long-sleeved tops, sisters Almira, Irene, Mylene, and Celina Cercado came armed with just the powerful vocal chops that had propelled...
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Portraits in Jazz: Butch Saulog’s flow and order
(Seventeenth of a series) For the record, I informed this month’s Portraits in Jazz subject of my intention to borrow the first lines from a 1983 Dave Frishberg song, “My Attorney Bernie,” as the title of this piece for two rather in-your-face reasons: First, because Butch Saulog’s given name is “Bernard” (usually shortened to “Bernie”),...
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Portraits in Jazz: Keeping up with Colby de la Calzada
(Sixteenth of a series) Age is a wonderful thing when it happens to people who embrace it as fully as they have lived their lives. Some even laugh about the exigencies of aging, admitting that the attendant forgetfulness has compelled them to keep the good ole’ CV in ship-shape. Colby de la Calzada—bassist, composer, arranger,...