Joey Ayala's Ethnic Fusion: A Passion for Things Filipino

Around three years ago, I was at a gig in Old Manila. I was with writer/poet Karen Kunawicz. Joey Ayala was going to perform at a launching of an alternative band. He was wearing a casual attire with his acoustic guitar. He was walking toward me and I said' Hey Joey" and he smile and said Hello back. The atmosphere of the place was really cozy. He sang a few songs in Filipino, mostly old and new stuff. Joey has a charisma that breaks barriers He has always been passionate about the preservation of the environment and also the safety of the natives. This video is called Magkaugnay(which means relatedness of things).

Check out this video about the legend himself.

Panasiatic Solutions Sinkhole.

We went to the Panasiatic Solutions Job Fare. It’s a new call center which hopes to get as much as 3000 employees. I have seen a lot of competitive people around and I know these people have what it takes to make it. We were endorsed to a recruitment officer by the name of Lucky . Upon first glance you would think that this lady is gentle of spirit and is also perceptive. She looks as if she has the sensitivity of a training officer. She also looks like an angel as one of the applicants remarked. Then she asked us to read. It was a surprise because other recruiters did not require it (there were around three recruiting kiosks and we thought we were lucky to be endorsed to Lucky..the name said it all).

After working for eight years in the industry, I know I have the necessary skills and accent to make it. I know I am capable as others should be on the waiting lists. Little did I know that I would be rejected like the rest of the competitive people I know. We waited for three hours on the line at the Government Center ! These guys texted me after. They said they didn’t make it and those people that Lucky hired were actually those that don’t have call center experience and were less competitive. Lucky turned out to be the Unlucky wall before us. Oh well that does it. There are still other s but then again this left me a lasting impression of the kind of people Pan Asiatic took for their recruitment department. And these very same people will be the downfall of the company four years from now.

Will I ever attempt to apply again as what the rejection slip told me to do? With these kinds of people how can I be assured of my tenure ship with the company? Do they make sound judgment? No. And my answer is also no.

Grace Nono II

Yesterday I talked about how I discovered Grace Nono. But I failed to mention that producer/husband Bob Aves is from Bacolod. I also remember seeing her live Tropical Depression ( a reggae band) at the University of St La Salle. All I could think of at that time was that the feeling I got is the same intensity when I listened to the music of Dead Can Dance. There is that powerful excursion in her music as if she is summoning all the elementals and hurling them to you.
I lost track of Grace a years passed. Someone burrowed her second album from me and never bothered to return it. One of the reasons that strike me is her brand of contralto. As what a critic wrote: it sounds sweet but with a kick. Actually it’s quite big and broad for her small frame. She has a way of coloring it, given her background in singing jazz before her venture to this terrain.
I no longer her an eco f her on the radio, given the popularity of Emo bands as well as pseudo lounge acts that makes you long for the days when Filipino music was truly original and not a rip off of Western acts. These days they are doing covers of songs that you know, could never top the performances of their American originals.
I could no longer hear voices like her’s . And there is an urgency in the air…as what my favorite Irish singer Liam O’ Maonlai said, fanaticisms is only brought about by something that is dying. And My God isn’t he right?

Grace Nono

I have followed her career since the 90’s when ethnic fusion was really new. It’s like a renaissance of traditional music in mainstream culture. All of sudden there are folk bands that came out celebrating protest music as well as the usage of indigenous instruments.

It’s a wonder that Salidumay made it to the top 40 pop radio. I began collecting her albums. She along with Joey Ayala became the face of Filipino ethnic fusion. Yes the songs are taken from the mountains and arrange with modern production techniques as well as arrangements.