Getting to know Aegis & the art of resilience

Much as it is embarrassing to admit, we attended the Philippine Theater Association’s (PETA) preview of The Rak of Aegis giving tribute to the iconic Filipino rock band Aegis of the ’80s to ’90s whom we hadn’t heard of until then. The rock musical tells the story of Aicelle who works in a mall and lives in the flooded village of Villa Venizia. The entire town is affected by the flood with businesses closing down. Aicelle makes a video of herself singing, sends it to YouTube, hoping to win and help the residents get on their feet again.

Some of the Aegis songs were performed during the preview like the band’s more popular pieces, including Luha, Halik, Christmas Bonus and Basang-basa sa Ulan, and a backgrounder of the rock musical was provided. The seven-strong Aegis has released 10 albums over its career that have consistently made the Gold and Platinum marks beginning with Halik, Mahal na Mahal Kita as well as Awit at Pag-Ibig, Paskong-Pasko and Ating Balikan. The band also released a mind-boggling remix collection of its hits titled Ating Sayawin.

Sisters Juliet and Mercy Sunot have been with the group since they started originally as AG’s Soundtrippers (the letters A and G being their manager’s initials). They later changed to Aegis in 1998 as agreed upon by the band manager with Alpha Records. “It is very exciting for us to do this,” says director Maribel Legarda. “We have 20 songs that we will be using for the musical. There is no question na very iconic ang Aegis as they cut across all social classes.”    

Maribel adds that Aegis members welcomed PETA’s interest, and have been promoting the musical on their official Facebook page. They have also confirmed attendance at the show’s premiere night.

Writer Liza Magtoto reports she got the inspiration to write the story of Rak of Aegis when she documented a psycho-social debriefing session during PETA’s post-Ondoy relief efforts. Liza is a freelance writer for various issues including reproductive rights, violence against women, migrant workers, and has penetrated radio, TV, theater, film, video and what-have-you’s, it would have been a surprise to us had she not become a Palanca awardee.

Included in the musical’s cast is theater veteran Isay Alvarez-Seña who spoke about her continuing battle against leukemia. She reveals to be very much better after a drastic change of diet. When queried as to the secret of her getting better, Isay holds on lovingly to husband Robert Seña, resulting in giggles from the audience.

Except for the Seña couple, the musical’s cast members went through an audition process for their roles, including comedienne Kakai Bautista and singer Aicelle Santos who plays the lead. Then it was fun time as Kakai was the butt of jokes, constantly being asked to reveal how she made it to the cast. The audience ribbed Jerald Napoles for his family name and its influence peddling. And Myke Solomon who got assigned as actor, musical director and arranger was the subject of banter all in the name of fun.

The musical will cap PETA’s 46th Theater Season. As a final message, we are reprinting portions from writer Liza Magtoto’s notes titled Love in the Time of Calamity.

“A light bulb was turned on in my head when a line from Basang-Basa sa Ulan came on: Ngunit heto, bumabangon pa rin… So the word ‘resilient’ came to mind… But at the risk of sounding unpopular, I am a bit miffed, by the way, that the term ‘resilient’ is used again and again. People always hail Pinoys as being resilient like it’s the sole golden virtue that our people can use to survive. Like we can take any beating with a smile (so please bring it on!). While it’s true we are resilient, I’d like to go beyond resilience. Oo resilient, pero ano ang ginagawa ng mga taong dapat mangalaga sa Pinoy?”

We are writing this while new developments in Tarragona, Boston, Caraga, Cateel in Davao have placed Mindanao as new targets of flooding. We are certain that the Aegis band, who has survived 15 years and is still going strong, will continue to write new songs, just as PETA will be around to be inspired to produce theatrical masterpieces on how Filipinos and the Filipino nation continue to weather the storm.

(E-mail your comments to [email protected] or text 0917-8991835.)