Pinoy’s answer to K-Pop craze

CEBU, Philippines - GMA Artist Center’s music group Down To Mars may look like another visiting Korean or Japanese boy band, but engage them in a conversation, and you’ll discover they’re as Pinoy as one can get.

Down To Mars, in town recently as performers in the Dance Fest Visayas 2013 grand finals at SM City Consolacion,  is made up of Jeongwon Song (Fil-Korean), Yheen Valero (Fil-Chinese), Kenji Chua (Fil-Chinese), Daisuke Hagihara (Fil-Japanese) and Jang Amparna (half-Chinese). All five dudes grew up in the Philippines and are fluent in Tagalog.

“We started out as a group of friends and have known each other for quite a time before the band was formed,” said Kenji. “We found out that we have the same passions, which are singing and dancing. Our musical inspirations and idols are also very similar. We all look up to the famous K-Pop groups.”

The group was formed in 2011 by dance choreographer, and now the group’s co-manager, Geleen Eugenio (she launched the 90s phenomenon, Universal Motion Dancers).

What’s the story behind their band’s name? According to Jang, Down to Mars was inspired by the idiom ‘down-to-earth’, which connotes humility.

“We believe that the key to succeeding in show business is staying a down-to-earth and grounded person. We merely replaced the word ‘Earth’ to ‘Mars’ because in Greek mythology, it is said that women came from Venus, while men came from Mars,” Jang explained.

The group, who also writes their own songs, released their self-titled debut album under PolyEast Records last year. It was fortunately a hit, with their song “Nandito Lang Ako” used as a theme song for the GMA-7 Koreanovela “Smile Dong Hae”. The music video for their carrier single “My Everything” also featured no less than Marian Rivera.

One of their best gigs so far, the boys said, was being able to perform at the 2012 World Expo, a bi-annual event which took place at Yeosu South Korea.

Recalling that experience, Jeongwon shared, “It was very memorable since a group of girls was trailing us. The next thing we knew, there were already a handful of them following us. They thought we were new ‘Idols,’ which is Korea’s term for their music groups. They asked for our photos and autographs.”

Asked for their immediate goals as a boy band, Jang expressed the group’s desire to make an indelible mark as Filipino talents.

“People who’ve listened to our first album have said that it is meant for an international audience. So now, we are trying to compose modern Tagalog ballads to define ourselves as Filipino artists first and foremost. We may be all half-breeds, but we’re Pinoys at heart.” (FREEMAN)