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Sunday, December 19, 2004
The spirit behind the music
‘Tis the season for reunions. Who are you going to call? Karl A.E.F. Cabilao looks to a musical old faithful.
In this age of hip-hop litanies and noisy rock bands, it is amazing how music from the so-called retro era has continued to draw breath. Some of these songs are still played in a few FM stations and remain regular favorites during karaoke sessions. Well, thanks to weekend family sing-along junctures, I wasn’t caught dumbfounded when the Spirit of '67 band painted the town retro during the recent dinner concert organized by the Quota Club International of Mandaue.
For almost 12 years now, Spirit of '67 has kept alive the psychedelic life force of the 60s and the 70s. The band is composed of Jake Arellano (bass guitar), Arnold Austria (drums), Nato Canlas (keyboards), Steve de Jesus (lead guitar), Maso Diez(vocals), Bimbo Santiago (vocals), Cholo Santiago (vocals), Johnny Velasquez (vocals). Vocalist Zoe Zuniga (yes he’s the brother of singer Nonoy Zuniga) is the latest addition to the band. This year, they are occupied with shows, out-of-town gigs and invitations to perform in other Asian cities.
What’s in a name?
“The name was taken from the batch where the original band members belonged to - the Ateneo High School Batch 1967. Thus, Spirit of ‘67,” says band manager Sonny Alvendia. Former classmates of their high school batch gathered to form a band to play for their high school jubilee celebration. The band had their first performance at the Ateneo Alumni Homecoming in 1992.
Juggling Time
With their numerous gigs, difficulties with scheduling time with family are expected. “Being the only female in the group, it does have disadvantages working late at night and attending to home and family concerns within the week, especially during school days,” reveals vocalist Maso Diez.
But they agree that effective time management is the solution. “We get the band schedule for the month ahead of time so we can plan ahead also for family and other works. The secret is not to change that band schedule so that other plans don’t get affected.It’s difficult but we get by.
Bigayan lang,” confides vocalist Cholo Santiago. On the Cebuano crowd
The 2003 and 2004 recipients of the Aliw Awards find the Cebuano crowd fun, although a bit conservative because some of them would prefer to be glued to their seats than scorch the dance floor. And are Cebuanos really a hard-to-please concert crowd? “Ganyan talaga ang Pinoy maski-saan. The first songs are crucial. But all we need is just one song the people really like and one pair or a small group to start dancing and the rest follow. Tuloy-tuloy na yan. Magaling kami dyan,” says Cholo.
(December 19, 2004 issue)
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