Recording stars sing for flag

MANILA, Philippines - As a result, an independent artists’ movement led by some of the currently popular recording acts had been formed for the purpose of inspiring patriotism. 

The group, christened Filipinos Unite or FU for short, gathered some of its illustrious participants and recorded an original track called Change The World which it launched recently at Makati Shangri-La.  

“We’ve chosen to sing to deliver our message and call for global Filipino community... We will distribute this song via social media and do a national tour to promote it,” said Fil-Am FU chairman Vonz Santos. 

The said song, an R&B piece with occasional rap verses and accompanied by a music video that prominently featured the image and voice of R&B Prince Jay-R is digitally released, particularly on the group’s website www.filipinosunite.com. 

Other familiar names listed as having recorded for the FU cause are Billy Crawford, Abra, Gian Magdangal, Kris Lawrence, Jamir Garcia of Slapshock, Teddy Corpuz of Rocksteddy, Loonie, Quest, and the group’s spokesperson Roxee B., or more known in showbiz circles as Roxanne Barcelo. 

The singer-model who incidentally co-wrote the track stated, “Kailangan marinig ang boses natin and stand up for our right. We use the arts because it is a universal language.” 

As of the moment, around 50 personalities from the music, film, and literary circles have sworn their allegiance to FU, including actor Ronnie Lazaro and filmmaker Jourdan Sebastian of Ploning fame. 

FU is targeting to develop more songs and eventually come up with a collection worthy of album release. 

Change The World, from writing to video shoot, is said to have taken less than four weeks to complete as several interested artists voluntarily joined in that eventually hastened and eased the task. 

Meanwhile, rock band Sandwich opted to play a classic nationalistic tune instead during the recent Finals Night of Philpop 2013 wherein the tandem of Thyro Alfaro and Yumi Lacsamana won the P1M grand prize for their entry Dati. The group, with frontman Raymund Marasigan wearing an upper garment designed with the Philippine flag, performed Heber Bartolome’s signature piece Tayo’y Mga Pinoy. 

The five-piece band recently released its seventh album Fat Salt & Flame with the track Back For More as carrier single. It coincided with its 15th anniversary carrying the name that produced hits like Sugod.

Marasigan, who co-formed the group while still the drummer for Eraserheads, explained their process of crafting the album’s nine-song all-original repertoire, “We rehearsed, wrote and tried out the songs live for almost a year and then we recorded it live in the studio. The album represents primal elements that are the building blocks for a mind-blowing good time.” 

Sandwich is signed with Polyeast Records.