Sitti wants to bring ethnic music to the world

Fresh from a successful Christmas concert and the release of her certified platinum Christmas album, bossa nova diva Sitti Navarro, best known for her soothing voice and captivating charm, still can’t get over gushing over her very successful 2008.

“I feel so blessed,” Sitti shared during an intimate conversation over a sumptuous lunch at Café la Carmela on Jupiter Street in Makati City. “The previous years have been very blessed, and I would like to give them back to the people who continue to watch my concerts, and buy my albums.”

After three years in the music business, Sitti can’t help but be overwhelmed when she looks back at the years that were.

She recently had a Christmas concert titled An Evening in December with Sitti at the Music Museum. In one evening to remember, Sitti, along with Christian Bautista, Richard Poon, and the Hiyas ng Pilipinas Children’s Choir, serenaded the audience with cuts from her latest album Ngayong Pasko, which has just been certified platinum for selling more than 25,000 copies.

Sitti recently released an album titled Ngayong Pasko under Warner Music Philippines containing songs like All I Want for Christmas, Ngayong Pasko, Santa Baby, Winter Wonderland, Someday At Christmas, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus, Grown-Up Christmas List, The Christmas Song, Jingle Bell Rock and Boogie Woogie Santa Claus.

As a special bonus track, Sitti and Christian sing the duet Baby, It’s Cold Outside. To complete that Christmas feeling, Sitti also sings I’ll Be Home for Christmas together with the Las Piñas Boys Choir.

Aside from the certified platinum album, Sitti also has a string of best-selling albums like Café Bossa, Sitti Live!, Sitti In the Mix, and My Bossa Nova that captured the Filipinos’ interest in the bossa nova genre. Her Café Bossa led to the surge of bossa nova CDs and bossa-inspired OPM songs.

Given these accomplishments, Sitti can rightfully be credited for partly paving the way towards large-scale bossa nova appreciation here in the Philippines.

Sitti also hosted several shows like Pinoy Dream Academy and Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 exploring her range as an artist. She appeared on the top-rating Ysabella.

Sitti is truly committed to her craft. She is now starting to write songs. As a matter of fact, she also studied music, although for a short time only, at the Conservatory of Music at the University of the Philippines in Diliman.

“I really wanted to finish the diploma course, but work got in the way,” she shared.

But things are just getting better and brighter for Sitti.

For 2009, Sitti will be busy preparing for a new album.

“We’re still brainstorming,” she enthused. “It will still have that bossa nova feel, but I wanted to incorporate new sounds like smooth jazz, which is also close to my heart like bossa nova.”

Being of Maranao descent, Sitti also dreams of coming up with an all-OPM album that incorporates the sound of the kulintang, a musical instrument composed of a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically. She also dreams of introducing the signature Filipino sound to the world just like Jamaica has its reggae and Brazil has its bossa nova.

Her wishes for the new year: “I would like to have the inspiration to write new songs and the vision to guide me in choosing the best road to take for 2009.”