Jed Madela at his best

I believe that Jed Madela’s victory over an international line-up of contestants at the prestigious World Championship Of The Performing Arts (WCOPA) gave aspiring singers a very good template about what songs to perform in a contest. I do not know if Jed himself did the selecting or if he got very good advice but to this day, I still believe that he did come up with a full-proof repertoire to clobber all others at that time.

Truth to tell, there have been a number of times in the past when I told an aspiring singer or two to check out the wikipedia for Jed’s WCOPA repertoire if he wants to excel in competition. I’m Your Angel in the pop category; Vehnee Saturno’s Be My Lady in the original, hometown composition; Home in the Broadway section; Last Night of the World from Miss Saigon for his duet; Take Me Out Of The Dark for Gospel; and I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing by Aerosmith and The Impossible Dream for the finals.

He did excel and Jed was named the WCOPA champ in 2003.  The actual title is Grand Champion Performer of the World.  It was as such that he was given the treasured Achievement Award and inducted into the elite Performing Arts Hall of Fame in Hollywood last July. He was the first Filipino artist to be so honored.

Given his mastery of songs like those he performed at the WCOPA, it would have been really easy for Jed to spend the next decade of his career, singing great covers of popular songs.  Which was what he did.  Within the next few years, Jed released several CDs with cuts like And I Love You So, How Can I Fall, Breathe and Heaven Knows.  I recall one or two originals but these did not make as good an impression. That must be the reason why, along with his change in record labels, from Universal to Star, Jed went all-out and recorded an album with all-original Pilipino line-up also titled All Original.

I like it that the album has songs by our songwriters, including one, Tanging Ikaw, which Jed wrote himself and which is one of the best cuts. It is also nice to find out that he is into experimenting with various types of music like dance and pop rock. But it is really in the sweet ballads where his fine tenor is at its best. Sa Habang Buhay by Wilson John Escaner, Dalangin Ko which was written and produced by Jimmy Antiporda and Will Forever by Jungee Marcelo are the gems of All Original.

Also included are Wish by Jonathan Manalo and Garlic Garcia; When Love Once Was Beautiful by Biv de Vera and Raizo Chabeldin; Dito Lang by Francis Salazar; Ipinapangako Ko by Christian Martinez; Ikaw Na, the carrier single composed by Soc Villanueva; and Home To You by Trina Belamide. The CD includes two bonus tracks, an extended mix of Wish and an alternate edit of Dito Lang. 

Meanwhile, out there in MYX music video country, Sarah Geronimo’s version of It Takes A Man and A Woman continues to reign supreme in the Pinoy MYX Countdown. As most of you surely know by now, this is not only because Sarah usually makes hits but also because, the song was used as the theme of the motion picture of the same title that also stars John Lloyd Cruz. It Takes A Man And A Woman is now galloping towards that historic P400M gross at the box-office. This is the third romantic comedy for the Sarah-Lloydie tandem and given the phenomenal earnings will definitely not be the last. Besides, these two look so great together and will surely go down in Philippine movie history as one of the great love themes.

Here are the rest of the videos in the Pinoy MYX Countdown for the week: HKM by Callalily; Take A Chance by Luigi D’Avola; Darating by BBS feat. Ney, Dello & Kleggy; You Still Have A Long Way To Go by Typecast; Better Days by Franco; Katulad Ng Iba by Gloc-9 feat. Zia Quizon; Pilipinas, Kailan Ka Magigising by Rivermaya; Meron Ba by Barbie Forteza; Mr. Kupido by Myrtle Sarrosa; Nasa Iyo Na Ang Lahat by Daniel Padilla; Back For More by Sandwich; Bawat Daan by Ebe Dancel feat. the cast of Sa Wakas; Amygdala by She’s Only 16; Charades by Drop Decay; Sama-sama by Rocksteddy; Kung Pwede Lang Ibalik by Markki Stroem; Sabihin Mo Naman by Kris Lawrence; 1 Week To Move On by Isabelle De Leon; and The Existence by Shuffled.