Friday, December 08, 2006 Serna: Shining Bisaya! By Roger Serna Sounds and images
FIRTS and foremost, allow me to greet the people of the towns of Madridejos and Oslob who are celebrating their annual fiestas in honor of the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.
As expected, residents of both towns go out of their way to come up with a loaded lineup of activities both on the religious and socio-cultural aspects of the celebration. For Madridejos, it has the Kadagaya Festival.
Oslob has the Sadsad Festival which will be held tomorrow, Dec. 9, with a selection and coronation of the Sadsad Festival King and Queen tonight at the town’s community square.
Nine contestants each for both categories represent nine barangay contingents that will participate in tomorrow’s festival.
So may all the efforts of the contestants, the contingents and the organizers be rewarded with a peaceful, meaningful and successful celebration. Happy fiesta!
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A couple of weeks ago, yours truly and some members of Cebu media covering the lifestyle and entertainment beats witnessed an important event in the Cebu music industry, the launch of Viva South.
A division of the Viva Group of Companies, Viva South concentrates on the Visayas- Mindanao area especially in the big cities of Cebu, Dumaguete, Bacolod, Iloilo, Davao and Cagayan de Oro, to name some.
The same occasion likewise marked the comeback to the scene of Bisaya rap pioneer, the Brownian Method, composed of Rey Nacilla, a.k.a. MC Rey, and Edwin Colina, a.k.a. Ja-Ghetto, as Viva South’s first artist for distribution in the south and, hopefully, even in the Metro Manila area if demand warrants.
It’s not that Brownian Method has been away from the scene, thus the comeback, but it had just been eclipsed by the advent of the Bisaya rock (Bisrock for short) groups that have been dominating the airlanes and most gigs in the metropolis and suburbs.
Brownian is credited for bringing into the Bisaya consciousness such songs as Pasikat, Pinasagdan sa Kusina and T-Back, among others, both over the airlanes and in live performances.
Under Viva South, Brownian Method is set to release early next year (that’s only a few days more) its latest album entitled Ang Pagbalik sa mga Tabi-an which is composed of songs in both Tagalog and Cebuano (Visayan if you may).
Both Atty. Marivic Benedicto, assistant general manager of Viva Records, and Boy Bosque, Viva Records Cebu manager, believe that it’s time for Visayan artists to shine brightly not only in their own territory but in the other parts of the country as well, thus, the support the company has offered.
Viva South likewise accepts compositions of any language or dialect especially those with commercial appeal for possible recording and/or publishing in the Harmony Music publications as well as for marketing these works to other companies and other artists outside its fold.
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The Cebuanos and the other Visayans have proven at one time or another that, if challenged, they can really come up with wholehearted support especially for those who are worthy and truly deserving.
Pinoy Dream Academy’s Cebuano scholars Jay-R Siaboc and Panky Trinidad got that much-needed support through text votes when both were nominated for expulsion from the academy on separate occasions.
Now, with the reality program winding up towards its big final night, the remaining scholars are relying mostly, if not solely, on the support of their respective followers through text votes. Will the Cebuanos and the Visayans allow their Jay-R and Panky to be booted out that easily?
The answer is up to us.
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Televiewers who are aspiring to be performers in the future can get enough valuable insights from the mentors in the Pinoy Dream Academy if they only pay attention to the inputs from these resource persons.
Too bad, though, that some regard the program as only entertainment. It cannot be denied, however, that many are benefiting from it. Don’t be surprised when someday some stellar personalities in the entertainment world will credit their rise to fame to the reality show.
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Yours truly enjoyed a few seconds of fame when, after watching the premier showing of the movie Inang Yaya by Unitel Productions and starring Maricel Soriano in the title role, ABS-CBN Cebu’s Vilma Andales asked me to comment on the just shown film.
The following day, yours truly was surprised to receive a text message from a cousin that at first sounded like the sender was angry, but later turned out to be one that expressed envy over that brief moment on television.
More messages followed from close to 10 friends who joked about my ‘new-found celebrity status’ (ha-ha!). They might have missed my statements when they saw the familiar face but what I said were all positive remarks on the movie that gave tribute to one of the important women in our lives–the yaya (nanny).
