From Boracay to Brazil

Hearty congratulations to Armand TJ, whose music video One Island, One World just won the We Are One Sony online voting contest, and who will now represent our country in Rio de Janeiro at the height of World Cup fever next month.

Armand’s video entry set in Boracay surged ahead of its closest rival towards the contest deadline on May 18, winning by a mere 97 votes, with the final total numbers being 4,733 to 4,636. It did so by garnering steady support from a good number of European friends by way of shared magic with his island home.

One Island, One World by Armand TJ, featuring the 7107 Islands Drumbeaters, arranged and produced by Silverfilter Cy and directed by Sonny Sonny Cee, also credits SKT Digital Productions.

I’m very happy for this young man, as I’ve followed his career as a singer and songwriter over the past five years, noting with appreciation how he has mounted such gallant efforts in galvanizing into action Boracay residents as well as self-adopted daughters and sons from all over the world — all through his inspirational music.  

Soon after the contest winner was declared by the Sony organizers in Singapore, Armand was interviewed by Atom Araullo, one of the hosts of the Road to Rio TV series on Balls TV, the official broadcaster of the 2014 FIFA World Cup. The Road to Rio hosts, including Aly Borromeo, Marielle Benitez, Boom Gonzalez and Jeff Gaitan, happened to be in Boracay for the Ultimate Summer Experience production shoot on May 24.

Armand spoke on how he and his friends prepared the video for the Sony contest. Towards sunset, he sang the song at the Flores De Mayo event in Boracay Regency, and performed it once more for the Balls TV event being filmed at the beachfront of White House Boracay.

Armand’s latest success is Boracay’s own. For one, the winning video manages to showcase the island’s unique features even as it tells a finely crafted narrative that the song weaves through — enhanced with excellent cinematography and editing. 

A young “Football Dreamer Boy” strolls alone on White Beach until he picks up a bottle with a message. Holding it to his ear, he hears the first notes of One island, One World. It is a dream. He wakes up in a hut, picks up his football and jumps out to play with other kids on the powdery white sand.

Foreign tourists join in, and soon it becomes a montage of striking images, including aerial shots of Armand TJ singing his song while standing proudly on an outrigger at sea, aerials too of the cross on the cliff overlooking the island, underwater shots inclusive of mermaids, Christ-like silhouettes in reference to the Christ the Redeemer icon of a mountaintop statue lording it over Rio de J, and finally the Kite Surfer Kid to whom Dreamer Boy passes on the bottle. 

That cross on the cliff becomes even more poignant as a thematic image when one learns that it was erected on the spot where Armand Tajanlangit’s father, Boracay pioneer Steve Tajanlangit Sr., lies buried. Steve passed away in 2010. I was fortunate to have become his friend, however briefly.

I met his kids a couple of years earlier, and retain fond memories of the young Armand entertaining us on the piano at the dining salon of the 7,107 Islands cruise ship that then plied the seas from Manila to Boracay to Palawan.

Exactly five years ago, in May of 2009, I had Armand pose for pictures with his guitar on the beach tip of Maonsonon, one of the magical uninhabited isles and islets among the Busuanga Group of islands that our cruising party would anchor close to for a day’s extraordinary frolic. Backing him up for his music then was a group of Boracaynons that called themselves the 7,107 Drumbeaters.

They eventually performed regularly at Boracay Terraces Resort, which the Tajanlangits maintained. The Drumbeaters also appear in the winning video.

A Boracay Magazine issue late last year featured an interview with Armand where he explains that cliff on the cross overlooking White Beach Station 1:

“(My father) was always in search of uncharted paradise islands. He was also a big dreamer, an entrepreneur, a visionary. He passed away from cancer in 2010. A cross on a cliff, overlooking the white beach, marks his final resting place. He had unfinished dreams of sharing the experience of paradise with the rest of the world.

“With his passing, the dream somehow lives on with me and my path. In my journey, I’ll be encountering the community of globe-trekkers time and time again — as I travel from Boracay to the world. Together we’ll be singing the songs that connect us all, celebrating life, love, and paradise found.”

In 2009 Armand performed in the “Boracay Meets Amsterdam” concert, and in the Let’s Share Music festival in the Netherlands in 2011.

In 2012, he teamed up with filmmaker Jessie Maddox for a music documentary project about spreading the spirit of Boracay around the world. With the support of foreign friends who had been captivated by his home island and appreciated his music, Armand embarked on a “Boracay Tour of Europe” that brought him to London, Paris, Zurich, Budapest, Positano, Gothenburg, Amsterdam, Cologne and  Hamburg over three months.

This kickstarted the One Island, One World project, which may still be accessed at www.kickstarter.com           

“Boracay has a message to the world. And it will be revealed through the gatherings, through the music, and through this documented journey as a whole,” Armand TJ wrote then.

The rationale for the project had it thus:

“Having the shared experience of paradise, these globe-trekkers have become the emerging global community — having a ‘long-distance relationship’ with Boracay, while staying forever connected to the soul of the island through the songs of Armand like ‘Bora-Bora-Boracay,’ ‘21 Days,’ and ‘See you in the Philippines.’”

Year 2012 marked “the beginning of the journey of music and soul, from one island to the rest of the planet.” The project also became “a call for a homecoming of the globe-trekkers to the island of Boracay in the year 2016. This grand event will be a reunion of a lifetime. This is why Armand sings, ‘I’ll see you in the Philippines…’”

“Music unites! An island movement is born,” declared Armand TJ. “And everyone is invited to be a part of the journey. We plan to tell the story of a global community, and humanity as a whole, from the island of Boracay to the rest of the planet.”

Little did he know then that two years later, his journey and his music would take him to the opposite side of the planet, bringing with him the soul music of Boracay all the way to Brazil.

The winning “One Island, One World” music video may be accessed at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=614854678603891. Another version is in YouTube. One may also visit and follow Armand TJ in his social network accounts — Website: oneisland-oneworld.com and Facebook: Facebook.com/armandtjmusic.