Discovering Toro Y Moi and his Mahal

I say do not be afraid to browse the Internet during your lazy moments. There are always surprises on the web and you never know what will pop out on your screen. Just like what happened to me a few days ago. I do not recall what I was looking for anymore because I got so caught up with the surprise I got.

It is a vinyl album cover. It has the word Mahal in big red letters in front as the title. Behind it is a picture of a man sitting inside a jeepney all-dolled up in its nickel gilded and colorfully painted glory and it is in front of the famous Golden Gate Bridge of San Francisco, California, U.S. of A. So, I wondered who is this guy and what is that jeepney doing there?

Wikipedia to the rescue. I found out that the man in the jeepney is Chaz Bear, the artist who created the music in the album titled Mahal. Professionally, he calls himself Toro y Moi and is one of the biggest stars in the indie circuit. But do not be deceived by that mix of Spanish and French in his name. He is Chazwick Bradley Bundick, 35 years old and he was born in South Carolina of an African-American father and a Filipino mother.

So that was where he got the Filipino in him and why he decided to title the album Mahal. The meaning of the word is explained in Toto y Moi’s promo blurbs as loved or expensive. That is probably how he feels about his Mom, loved and at times also expensive as most Pinoy mothers are with their sons. The music of Mahal is his tribute to his mother and his Filipino heritage.

The jeepney was authentically American. It is a Willys and dates back to 1946. It is also authentically Filipino. Left behind by the American forces, it was turned into a passenger vehicle by resourceful Pinoys. Toro y Moi found his jeepney on Ebay. He bought it and then transported it to the US where he equipped it with a sound system and speakers.

Then tired of all the gig cancellations he had been getting during the pandemic, Toro y Moi took his jeepney around as his tour bus. At times, he probably also performed in it or on top of it. In between those gigs, he must have driven around with his music blaring from the speakers, just like most of our jeepney drivers.

The extremely talented Toro y Moi has a degree in graphic arts from the University of South Carolina and is a painter and visual artist, filmmaker and a champion skateboarder. As a musician he is a singer, songwriter, producer, arranger and DJ. His music defies classification. It is sometimes pop, funk, R&B, rap, club, dance, electronic, synthpop, and alt everything or as it came to be known, lo-fi chillwave. I say he is living the musician’s dream come true. Making the music he wants without being pigeonholed inside a specific genre.

An in-demand collaborator, he has worked with Tyler the Creator, Haim, Travis Scott and other big names. And when the mood hits him, he retires Toro y Moi to become Plum and make ambient music or Les Sins to DJ and play electronic dance.

Mahal is his seventh studio album. Great contemporary R&B with shades of everything alt. There is nothing Filipino about the contents but this guy is so darn talented, I am so proud that he is part-Pinoy, and he loves his mother and his jeepney.

Raves for Rachelle Ann

Still on Filipinos in the performing arts who are doing very well in other countries. Here is a heartwarming part of a rave review of the production of Les Miserables, that is now playing at the Bristol Hippodrome in the UK. Written by Tim Wright, it was recently shared online by Broadway World UK and mentioned Pinoy singing champion Rachelle Ann Go, who is at present on tour with this Les Mis.

“Rachelle Ann Go has the tricky task of delivering perhaps the most well-known number of the show terrifyingly early on in I Dreamed a Dream. Arguably, it’s this song that reinvigorated Les Miserables and catapulted it back into the public’s attention when Susan Boyle sang it. Ann Go finds the haunting sadness in the song, of dreams that cannot be realized. Her voice fills the space with the richness of her tone.”

Looks like Rachelle Ann has truly mastered her portrayal of the ill-fated Fantine. Great job.