Partying to Jay's music

MANILA, Philippines - Viewers tuning in to TV5’s latest noon time Sunday offering, PO5, may be wondering where this flashy and vibrant show draws much of its infectious musical beat. The man behind the music is no less than Jay Durias, known to many as the unifying force behind the Filipino pop/R&B band, South Border, whose virtuosity and rare combination of talent and dedication make every PO5 episode a visual treat.

 “I had mixed emotions when offered the job (as a musical director),” Durias admitted.  “I was reluctant, excited and overwhelmed all at the same time because I was asked to handle the entire musical direction of the show.” Jay disclosed that what made him hesitate a bit in accepting this challenging role was the fact that he, unlike other musical directors, does not read notes. But what he lacks in this department are more than made up in terms of his diligence and passion in creating some of the best songs that Filipinos learned to love from South Border such as hits Rainbow and Kahit Kailan,  among others.

As musical director, Jay is tasked to oversee the songs that will be performed by the show’s various artists. He approaches this delicate task of dealing with, sometimes mercurial, talents democratically. He would ask each one to submit 10 songs that they like and from these he would make suggestions, come up with songs and arrangements that can be used for the next episode of PO5.  “This way, I involve and make them participate in creating the music for the show, aside from making the artists feel comfortable with the music they are going to perform,” he explained. Moreover, Jay also does one-on-one voice coaching with the talents and just to ensure a good show, he insists on having several rehearsals. “I feel the need for rehearsals in order for the talent to be confident in what he or she is doing; be it singing or playing an instrument in the program.” It is also an opportunity for him to gauge what the artist can or cannot do in terms of achieving his or her best performance. In short, Jay can play up the artists’ strengths and downplay their weaknesses. But he also believes that once they have gained mastery over their song/ songs, then they will feel more at ease in creatively interpreting their numbers.

For providing him with the opportunity to share his creative vision with other artists, Jay has nothing but praises for TV 5 management, specially its head of Creatives and Entertainment Production, Perci Intalan, who, according to him, “has given me enough leeway to move in whatever direction I plan to bring the team and at the same time, the trust to do what I feel is best for PO5.”He is similarly appreciative of PO5 talents who have been very cooperative when it comes to rehearsing their numbers.  “We run through each of their production numbers so that we learn it together and play it by heart,” Jay said.

Putting together each episode of PO 5 requires team work and collective decision-making. The Creative and Production team meets at least once a week and during these sessions, ideas are thrown around, discussed and pursued.  “I like it that we have a very open-minded team and everyone’s ideas are respected,” said Jay. In fact, it is during these unguarded moments that he is able to observe the skills of the talents. “One time, I saw Chris (Cayzer) playing the guitar so in the next episode, I asked him to jam with the band.”  The PO 5 band, incidentally, is comprised mostly of South Border members so the chemistry is very visible once they start to jam.

To Jay’s credit, he remains humble on being dubbed the show’s musical czar and mindful of the enormous challenges ahead as PO5 now takes on the established competition in the Sunday noontime slot.  He feels privileged in being one of the pioneers of the show. “Everything is very fluid unlike the other shows that have its set rules. In PO5, the system is very flexible; there maybe flaws but it is easy to fix these,” he said, his eyes brimming with hope. 

It still remains to be seen though, if PO 5 indeed, will become an institution in its own right. Its first episodes have been the talk of entertainment columns and TV writers for the production values that have been put up for the show. Beneath the glitz, the showmanship and the impressive musical numbers lie hours and hours of preparation that only a dedicated and talented team could put together week after week, Sunday after Sunday. And toiling in the background, fine-tuning each and every performance is Jay and his music.