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Saturday, September 16, 2006
Libre: Those music competitions
By Mel Libre
Seriously Now
As a musically inclined person, I am a sucker for competitions that relate to music. When I was a child, I used to join the crowd in front of the dyRC stage along Osmena Blvd. where the radio station’s popular amateur singing contest was held.
On television, Tawag ng Tanghalan and Bagong Kampeon became weekend habits. The Metro Manila Pop Music Festival started as an oasis of fresh talents but ended up as an annual reunion of previous finalists. The same thing is true with Cebu Pop.
Which brings me to two hugely popular music competitions on TV, American Idol (AI) and Rockstar: Supernova.
In its last edition, the pop-oriented AI did showcase fine vocalists like Elliot Yamin, Paris Bennett, Katherine McPhee, Chris Daughtry and Taylor Hicks. My favorite was Hicks, with his blue-soul voice, funky movement and black music repertoire.
Hicks’ sense of fun and spontaneity endeared him to AI followers. With right materials, he may excite the bland music environment filled with pop clones, tiresome rappers and recycled artists.
Rockstar: Supernova was unpredictable to the end. The final arbiters---former Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted and former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Gilby Clarke---–discussed intensely their choice for their band’s lead singer to the last few minutes.
My bet was on Magni, an established artist in his native Iceland. He exuded confidence and honesty in his performance. His strong and perfect-pitched voice is tailored for any honest-to-goodness rock band. He even plays mean guitar. His choice of materials showed his genuine understanding of rock music.
If Magni has one setback, it was his family man image. There was one episode wherein he viewed a videotape of his wife and baby and the bald rocker shed some tears. Lee’s bad boy image and Clark and Newsted’s kick ass attitudes would not blend with Magnis clean and straight guy image.
Australian Toby was fun and happy bordering on pop. That left only two persons: South African-American Dilana and Canadian Lukas. Both had the rock persona: painted faces, dyed hair and weird attire. Had Dilana gotten the spot, she would have upstaged the guys because she could dominate the stage like Tina Turner.
Lukas therefore became the obvious choice. With his choked vocal delivery and cocky strut, he was custom-made for Supernova, a band seemingly destined to live in a time warp when Alice Cooper, Billy Idol and even Kiss were treated as royalty. Worse, Supernova may not end up to be the band’s name as another group already has rights to it.
Today’s music competitions look glamorous, but sometimes you ask whether the winners are as talented and as original as those in the past. Is this more about image than substance, commercial success than artistic integrity?
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (September 16, 2006 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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