Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Random after show musings...

I've never done any kind of drug, but I completely understand why many entertainers start. I just finished a show for about a thousand people tonight. It rocked!!! When you have a great show and the audience is really going crazy for you there's such an intense amount of love/adrenaline/energy …and even right after the show when people are lining up to say hi, shake your hand, get an autograph, buy a CD …etc. The whole process is sort of surreal. I used to try and act normal when all of that was happening …and sometimes I still do, but oddly enough the more "normal" I try to act the more weird it all feels because it's not normal really. So when I just let go and accept it strangely it all starts to feel slightly more normal. …Then the show ends and the people leave.  …I'm sure it's the "after the show" feeling that makes many entertainers start do drugs. They want the feeling to continue. Sometimes I do to. Suddenly all the love/adrenaline …etc. seems to just disappear. It hasn't disappeared, but it has dissipated for a while. I'm lucky I guess that my dad's substance abuse throughout my childhood completely scared me into never touching any substance that would alter the way I felt. Well, writing this blog has been a good way to come off the "high" for me tonight. Now I'm gonna watch my favorite TV show Dexter and fall asleep :)

Monday, December 10, 2012

NEW ALBUM: Introduction

I've announced that I'll be putting out a new album on Star Records next year, but I haven't given any details about it yet. Well, here are a couple… :)

Most of you have probably heard the "I'm By Your Side" English version of "Hawak Kamay" that I wrote the lyrics to. Star Records heard it as well, and they loved it! They like it because it maybe for the first time gives a new voice to a now modern Tagalog/OPM classic, and even people who don't speak a word of Tagalog or aren't necessarily Filipino can now enjoy a "Filipino Song", and the melody and message of a great Filipino/Tagalog songwriter (Yeng). I'm also very proud of the song for the same reason.

I have to commend Star for their forward thinking regarding this concept, and for seeing the potential to bring Filipino music into the international mainstream, the same way K-pop has managed to do so with their music and videos. My goal over the past two years has been to break traditions within OPM and yet at the same time incorporate the languages and the feelings of Filipino music into my own music and collaborations. With this project I think we have a better chance than ever to do that.

So if you haven't guessed it by now my upcoming album on Star Records will be an "English Versions" album. I'm going to take my favorite classic Tagalog songs (songs that almost every Filipino knows by heart), and give them a complete makeover both lyrically (in English) and production wise (so that they feel progressive and modern). I hope at the same time to do justice to the original meaning & feeling of the songs, and I will use every bit of heart and talent within me to do so.

My goal for this album is that a young Filipino-American or Filipino-Canadian …etc. can drive in their car with their American friends and to proudly play an album of classic "Filipino Songs" yet every person in the car will be able to instantly enjoy the songs and start singing along. Or for an overseas Filipino mom to be able to share this album with her children that are growing up in a foreign country, and hearing these songs will encourage and get them excited about hearing the original versions in Tagalog and exploring their Filipino roots in a deeper way.

I thank you all for giving me this amazing opportunity to re-interpret classic songs that means so much to so many Filipinos, and I hope you're just as excited to hear these re-interpreted versions as I am to write them.

Love,

David