Malu back with birthday concert

MANILA, Philippines - Temporarily sidelined by the 2010 tragic death of her eldest son Charles Louie who lay in coma for seven months at a Cebu Hospital after he was sideswiped by a van being driven by an old man (with his wife as passenger), Malu Barry (photo) breaks her self-imposed vacation with a concert on Monday, Sept. 2, which is calculated to end a little after midnight to coincide with her birthday (Sept. 3).

“In the past four years, all I’ve been doing was special shows but no regular shows, so hindi naman talaga ako nawala,” disclosed Malu, the favorite singer of Lino Brocka who just came from Malu’s show at the old Spindle on Tomas Morato (Quezon City) when he was killed in a freak car accident on East Avenue (same city). “I miss Lino,” added Malu who would have been cast in Kislap sa Dilim, the film Lino was set to start shooting (Lino’s signature actor Christopher de Leon took over as director). “I still remember with pain his fateful last night in May more than 20 years ago. We were together at a shoot the whole day and he decided to watch my show that same night. Sayang si Lino.”

Between those special shows, Malu said she spent her time taking care of her three grandchildren, three of them by her late son.

“I have no love life of my own,” she laughed. “Ang love life naka-concentrate sa mga apo ko.”

Noted for being a husky-voiced belter (Lino loved her for that), Malu’s Bagaberde concert is titled Malu Barry…One and Only, aptly so because she’s one of a kind, a class on her own. Her repertoire includes classic lover songs and some Adele hits, her current favorite.

“My show is my way of saying thanks to my friends who have struck with me through the years, especially in times when things were not going well,” added Malu, “and, of course, people who don’t get tired helping and supporting me.”

(Presented by RC Chinatown Circle at Bagaberde Grill & Bar [Macapagal Avenue, Pasay City], starting at 9 p.m., Malu Barry…One and Only is for the benefit of Carmelite Monasteries of Nuns, San Pablo City. Price of ticket is only P1,000.)