The return of Janno Gibbs & OPM

Orig is a very brave move by Janno Gibbs. His first CD in two years, it comes at a time when the market considers recordings by Filipino artists as non-saleable unless these contain old favorites. But the singer/actor and let me add with pride, songwriter, would not have any of that. His latest which he titled Orig the Filipino slang for real, true or original, is made up of 11 songs, all originals and all of them, his own compositions. He explains why he chose to go against the grain:

“It seems that almost every solo artist has gone all revivals in their albums. And who can blame them. With today’s economy and growing competition, revivals are a sure thing. It’s faster to produce and a safe bet for a hit. Being pasaway, I’m going completely the other way. All new, all orig! I know it is a big gamble. I’m going up against familiar songs on the radio. But I think it’s worth it! Sayang naman mga naipon kong compositions.”

Janno has always had a kind of pop sensibility uncommon to Filipino writers and he shows this off in the album. I do not know if he has written songs for other singers and he should. I am sure that his works would be welcome by artists who want to expand their markets. He also has his lyric writing down pat. He introduces his plots in an easy manner, moves naturally towards involving his listeners and then comes to a conclusion a lot of people can relate to.

But of course. The songs are his and he does them well. Bless him too for being truly pasaway. Orig refreshes at a time balladeers seem to have something against going all soft and sexy. No straining the vocal cords here, just easy singing with R&B overtones. Best of the lot are Haven’t Stopped Loving You and Ang Aking Puso, a duet with Kyla. And to keep the package from sounding alike, there is Igiling, to which Janno can do some salsa moves.

Orig is one signal that Pinoys are not about to take the ongoing deterioration of the music industry sitting down. There seems to be a silent agreement among artists and producers to make efforts to save OPM and there are indications that these are starting to work. How else would you explain why concerts by local artists have outsold the imports these past months.

Love2Love2Love featuring Side A, Freestyle and M.Y.M.P. topped ticket sales last February and that was over Peter Cetera and Sheena Easton. The Legends of OPM packed the PICC early this month. And those two shows were repeats. And what about the Eraserheads reunion show? That audience turnout is one for the books. And it is just too bad that Journey had to take the stage only a week after that event.

And to show you that local music has also made the leap into the digital age, Janno’s Orig is available as a Limited Edition Digital Album on mini-SD with a 26B capacity distributed in all Wellcom, Laptopzone, MP3 King and MP3 Express for P299. Selected cuts are now also available for digital downloading. But for the still technologically resistant, the regular CD version has also been released. Get your copy now, in whatever format you want. It is great thing to be buying OPM.

David Idol Presents Tagalized Hits is not Original Pilipino Music. As the title clearly says, these are songs in English given Tagalog lyrics. The release of the album was no doubt prompted by the success of Hip Rap, the CD containing Tagalized renditions of recent favorites like Umbrella, which became Payong, Bleeding Love as Sugat Sa Puso and others by a certain Miss Ganda. Thanks to those adaptations, she became an instant star and has since then ditched her plan to remain faceless and mysterious.

The same formula is afoot in Tagalized Hits. But these are not just any hits. All of the songs in the CD were performed by David Cook during last year’s American Idol competition and these were what helped him win the title. As if that were not enough, singing these is a Pinoy David Cook sound-alike who calls himself David Idol.

Now although these are plakang-plaka versions in Tagalog, let us not forget that adaptations helped develop OPM. So if Tagalized Hits will help fuel the resurgence, then let us also enjoy this one. Included are Ikaw Lang ang Iibigin, Always Be My Baby by Mariah Carey; Miss Kita, I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith; Ang Hinahanap Ko, I Still Haven’t Found by U2; Billie Jean by Michael Jackson; Elinor Rigby, Eleanor Rigby by The Beatles; and Gutom Parang Lobo, Hungry Like a Wolf by Duran Duran.