Sitti tries theater

When Sitti emerged in the local music scene a few years back, some were aghast with her audacity to barge into the local pop audience with her musical genre.

And when she succeeded in carving a niche for herself, many called her flash in the pan.

Nowadays, no one can contest that she is Philippines’ Queen of Bossa Nova. With three successful bossa nova albums  — Café Bossa, My Bossa Nova and Ngayong Pasko — under her belt, and another just-released (titled Contagious, still under Warner Music Philippines), Sitti has grown not only as an artist but as a young woman.

In Contagious, Sitti demonstrates that almost any song can be turned into bossa nova numbers. The 15 remakes in the CD span musical genres that an artist of lesser mettle would have a hard time stamping his signature on.

The artists whose works she does versions of are those even her most avid fans would not expect: Annie Lennox (No More I Love You’s), Sarah McLachlan (Adia) and Sade (Your Love Is King), just to name a few.

She even has an original, titled Is This Love which was co-written by Andrew Fromm of Christian Bautista’s The Way You Look At Me — fame.

Sitti reveals how she is able to “own” music of different genres, turning these into progressive bossa nova. “I immerse myself in that (whatever genre the original is of) world. It’s on a different plane, where only the music exists.”

Listening to Sitti’s brand of “beach” music, as many people are wont to call it, one would never guess that behind the lilting voice is an artist who is as adventurous as, say, Madonna (forgive the audacious comparison); that is, someone who is willing to trail paths she has not yet taken.

One of these is acting and hosting. To date, Sitti has hosted (albeit briefly) Pinoy Big Brother Season 2 and has appeared in TV shows Ysabella and Your Song.

Sitti pushes her acting career further by delving into theater. At the press conference for Contagious, she announced that she has been cast in a theatrical production where she will play the role of a physically and sexually abused woman. She is currently taking up voice lessons with Annie Quintos of The CompanY to prepare for the role.

A bossa nova singer playing such a role? Kind of hard to reconcile.

“My fans would just have to realize that I have other talents. I can’t limit myself as an artist. I have to grow. I want to grow,” she said.

The budding actress is not yet allowed to divulge details (not even the title) of the production, only that it will be staged within the year. She added that she had long wanted to involve herself in theater and that her dream roles are Maria in West Side Story and Kim in Miss Saigon.

Then again, people who have been attending Sitti’s shows lately, ought to have anticipated the daring streak in the singer. Apart from bossa nova, Sitti sings jazz and Latin music — even pop music sometimes (including her recent duet with Christian Bautista titled Captured).

Sitti has a degree in Business Economics from the University of the Philippines. Although she is not thinking of quitting showbiz just yet (“or ever!” she points out), it may be comforting to her fans to know that their idol not only has talents but brains, too (Sitti was a consistent Dean’s Lister in college).

“But make no mistake about it — I will be in showbiz for a long, long time.”

Other songs in Contagious are Do You Really Want To Hurt Me (originally by Culture Club); Let Me In (Mike Francis); Promises/A New Day for You (Basia); Till There Was You (Beatles); Bossa Nova Baby (Elvis Presley); La-La Means I Love You (Jackson 5); One On One (Hall & Oates); A Certain Sadness (Astrud Gilberto); and Dindi (Jobim).

Erratum:

The beautiful, amiable and efficient lady of Heritage Park who I mentioned in the first part of my Untold Stories About Tita Cory which appeared Friday, Aug. 14 as Ting is Raquel Mendoza a.k.a. Quey.

My apologies to Fr. Manoling Francisco whose name was inadvertently misspelled as Fr. Monching Francisco in the second part of the Untold Stories About Tita Cory which came out last Monday.