Once again, the Manila Sound

MANILA, Philippines - Manila sound has been a musical subject that has always been close to my heart ever since its inception in the early ’70s. The founders, Rene and Dennis Garcia have been my good friends since the late ‘60s when we were struggling DJs at a radio station nobody listened to except the mother of the owner.

The martial law years may have been a bane to politicians and activists but for the music industry, those were the golden years. Madame Imelda Marcos was a patroness of the arts and she gave the industry full support thus encouraging budding musicians, singers and songwriters to pursue their craft.

In 1973, Rene and Dennis who had just disbanded their rock band Red Fox after their year-long stint at Mike’s Broil Your Own bar along Kalakaua Ave. in Honolulu were inspired to start a different kind of band that played pop music with Filipino lyrics. It sounded very radical at that time because only a handful of artists sang songs with Filipino lyrics, among them Sylvia La Torre, Ruben Tagalog, Cenon Lagman, Mabuhay singers and the like otherwise known as the Kundiman artists. There was no Filipino pop music per se.

Undaunted, Rene and Dennis formed Hotdog with at least a dozen members with Rene and Dennis themselves at the helm. They could have been called Circus 2 since the members came from different walks of life and musical backgrounds. They also came in different sizes. In a few short weeks after Hotdog got launched, they became the talk of town because of their innovative kind of true blue Philippine pop. Their first claim to fame was a song written by Rene and Dennis titled Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko.

In 1974, Manila was the site for the Miss Universe pageant and it was timely. I talked to my boss back then Don Manoling Villar who owned Villar Records to record the song and release the single. My instincts proved right. The song became a hit. It was followed by more hits like Pers Lab, Bitin sa yo, etc. And the revolution started. From that point on, there was no looking back. In the absence of an appropriate term for the music genre, it was christened Manila Sound. Then came Cinderella, VST & Co, Hagibis, Boyfriends, Blue Jeans, Rey Varela, Hajji Alejandeo, etc.

To date, Hotdog still performs occasionally with just one original member Rene Garcia. Dennis has traded his bass guitar for a producer’s hat. Keyboard player Lorrie Ilustre who also co wrote songs with me in the ‘70s now resides in Las Vegas and is currently a musical director. Jess Garcia the drummer was AVP of Philippine Airlines until a few months ago. Ella del Rosario now resides in Silicon Valley and might do a comeback project with Dennis soon.

In 2004, I attempted to relive the glory days of the Manila Sound by producing a concert that featured Hotdog, Boyfriends, Rey and Hajji with special guest Ramon Jacinto and host Willie Nepomuceno. In hindsight, I was regretful that it was just a plain concert that had the artists perform one after the other without injecting any production value and artist interaction in the show.

A few weeks ago when I had coffee with Rene, he told me how successful the US tour of Hotdog, Boyfriends plus members of VST & Co and Hagibis was. That very moment a lightbulb flashed in my mind and the result was the Manila Sound Porject.

The Manila Sound Porject will be a fully produced show mainly featuring the music of Hotdog, VST & Co, Hagibis and Cinderella with original members like Rene Hotdog) Sonny Parsons (Hagibis) Male Rigor (VST & Co,) Maso Diez (Hotdog) backed by top-rate singers and musicians like my mainstay MD Carlo Gaa plus the Hotsteps dancers. Their performance debut will be tomorrow, June 25 as special guest of Air Supply at the SMX convention center.

Tickets for the show are now on sale at Ticket World and outlets National Bookstores, Robinsons and Ayala Malls. Call 891-9999 for more details. Presented by Cirles Entertainment with GMA Network and sponsored by Dusit Thani Hotel, Zest Air, PCSO, Mall of Asia, St. Francis Square Business Mirror, Mings Pei Pa Koa, MS for Men, Hard Rock Café, Jack TV, etc, 2nd Avenue, Basketball TV, IFM, 99.5 RT, Magic 89, Wave, Jam and the official concert station RJ100FM.