I
WAS MARRIED in the Philippines in 1984. When I first played a blues on my
guitar for my nieces and nephews, they asked me what kind of music I was
playing. Two years later, I played the same blues for them and asked them
if they remembered what it was called. "Yes, Tito (uncle) John!
That's Levi's 501!"
Until I read Tom Colvin's "Blues Asia" website, I remained convinced that the blues would never flourish in the Philippine Islands. I mean, a blue jeans ad was hardly a cultural change. And my Filipina wife was convinced that such music wouldn't be appreciated by Filipinos, who, mostly, enjoyed more sentimental and mellow sounds.
I emailed Tom that I would be in Manila in December and January and wanted to meet some local bluesmen. Understand, however, that I still wasn't convinced that a real blues scene existed. My wife was even more skeptical.
Tom not only made sure that I got to hear and meet some authentic Filipino blues musicians, but also arranged for me to play at several venues, including "Cousin Hoagy" Pardo's radio show. And I got to jam with talented harp player Nino Mendoza. I swapped some licks with acoustic slide player Joric Maglanque, who floored me by playing Blind Willie Johnson's "Dark Was the Night." And I was privileged to catch a couple of sets by the excellent group Lampano Alley, featuring Binky Lampano's soulful vocals backed up by a very tight blues band. And Tom says there are even more bluesmen there that I should meet.
Now I really believe that there are blues in the Philippines. And so does my wife. I just can't wait to go back! -- JOHN BRADSHAW
WAY OUT IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN lies the Philippines, a tropical nation of over 7,000 islands best known in the US and Europe for its beautiful girls and colorful jeepneys. But the emergence of a surprisingly vital blues scene in the capital city of Manila suggests that blues has finally arrived in the "bookdocks" -- a term taken from the Filipino word bundok, meaning mountain, which was brought back to the U.S. a century ago by veterans of the American War.
The blues never really took root here until the past few years, but today Manila is the home of the most active local blues scene between Japan and Australia. A number of blues bands have stepped into the spotlight; venues are consistently featuring blues; blues has been broadcast over nationwide TV several times over the past year; a popular blues radio show is entering its fourth year; and Manila is now preparing for its Second Manila Blues Festival.
The current blues scene traces its beginnings to Binky Lampano, an icon in the local alternative music scene, who formed the Newly Industrialized Combo, or NIC, and began to generate considerable interest in the blues. The demise of NIC was soon followed by the formation of the Blue Rats, a sly allusion to the course Tagalog slang word burats, meaning "erect penis" -- or as the band members will tell you with a smile, "The Angry Dickheads." Created by bassist Apa Ongpin and guitarists Andy Locsin and Butch Roxas, the Blue Rats -- probably more than any other single influence -- lit the powder for the blues explosion soon to follow.
By 1994-1995 blues bands were springing up all over Manila, led by the Soul Dredgers, featuring slide guitarist Joric "Delta Slim" Maglanque; the Mexicali Blues Band, formed by the Mabanta brothers and guitarists Joey Puyat and long-time American expat William Wirth, who plays solidly in the Chicago tradition; and Crossroads, a group of journeymen pro musicians, organized around a blues-heavy repertoire. The Hobbit House, Club Dredd and Mayric's, three prominent alternative music venues, began booking these bands on a regular basis. The buzz was on.
Soon the blues could be heard on the airwaves when "Cousin Hoagy" Pardo launched his weekly blues radio show Crossroads -- Where Blues & Rock Meet, and Bob "Blues" Magoo introduced the two-hour late-night program, Blues Sessions, in cooperation with a group of blues aficionados known as the San Juan Blues Club.
Binky Lampano returned to Manila in early 1996 after a two-year sojourn in Los Angeles and formed Lampano Alley, destined to be a major force in the local blues scene. A number of high school and college bands began to feature predominantly blues sets, turning the ears of their teenage audiences to the blues, and some of the top rock bands in the country began to include more blues in their concerts.
Out of this mix emerged the Blue Jean Junkies, a group in their early 20s led by vocalist/harp player Nino Mendoza, who aggressively carried the blues into venues new to the blues and inspired other young bands to take up the blues. Mr. Crayon, formed as a high school band (its members are now college freshmen and sophomores), features lead guitarist Viktor "Kakoy" Legaspi, who has already established himself as "the" young guitarist in the country to watch in the Philippines. He plays blues lines with sensitivity, feeling and remarkable maturity.
Other blues outfits of interest include a new group organized by oral surgeon and guitarist Ted Nicholoff around guitarist Mason Ring, originally from Chicago and one of the finest pure blues players in town. The Blue Ribbon Committee Blues Band, led by Mel Orosa, is exploring acoustic blues. Balooze is a group of seasoned music professionals who take an occasional night off from the regular gigs to perform together as a very polished blues band.
All this activity culminated a year ago when promoters Tata and Lynn Francisco staged the First Manila Blues Festival, a series of 12 weekly blues concerts which explored the gamut of blues in the Philippines Festival performances were recorded and broadcast as a prime-time two-hour radio program a week later. The established blues bands were showcased; several nights were devoted to the jazz side of blues (featuring Bluesviminda, Majam and Ciao); and the festival was capped off by the T. Tinio Blues Band. T. Tinio, Manila's original blues band in the 1970's, headed up by guitarist Bo Razon. (Again, there's a phallic twist to the band's name: T. Tinio sounds exactly like the Tagalog words titi n'yo -- no mistaking it -- which means "your penis.")
The festival also brought unprecedented media attention: Over a three-month span, more than 100 articles about the blues were scattered amonth the city's newspapers and magazines, and the sponsoring radio station aired 752 30-second promo spots. "Our biggest surprise," says festival organizer Tata Francisco, "was the reaction of the people in the media. We didn't realize they'd come in droves. We were happy to see a lot of journalists are into the blues. And they represent a younger crowd. Maybe too they're tired of the same old thing."
Local television has picked up on the blues too. Lampano Alley -- now preparing its debut album, which will be the first all-original blues album ever released in the country -- has twice been telecast nationwide on Concert in the Park, and both the Blue Rats and Lampano Alley were featured on Martin Late at Night, the Philippine equivalent to Jay Leno and David Letterman.
The blues faces exciting prospects in the Philippines at the beginning of the new millenium. The Francisco team is now preparing for the Second Manila Blues Festival, the band scene continues to grow, and more venues are turning to blues. The Hobbit House features blues three to four nights a week; the Bourbon Street Blues Bar has live blues twice a week; and a new club called Blues Bands opened with a policy of blues and jazz Monday throughThursday. Several other clubs, including O'Reilly's, Freedom Bar, Fib's, and Heckle & Jeckle, feature blues once a week. and others stage a special blues night each month.
THE AUTHOR:
Thomas "Tomcat" Colvin, an American expat resident in the Philippines for almost 15 years, took early retirement from his day job to devote full-time to the blues as harp player with Lampano Alley. He currently divides his time between the Philippines and Mexico, where he also guests regularly with two blues bands. He created the BluesAsia website [found at www.bluesasia.com], which tracks blues throughout the region.
Billboard, "Global Music Pulse," 1 April 2000
Philippine blues band LAMPANO ALLEY has set up one of the very first Asian web sites dedicated to the blues. The site, bluesasia.com, provides blues information from Asian/Pacific Rim countries such as the Philippines, Japan, Malaysia, and Australia. "Information comes from regular correspondents around the region and other bands' sites to which we have established links," says Lampano Alley harmonica player Tom Colvin. Bands, venue operators, and fans can use the site to post inforamtion, news, and gig schedules. Colvin, a native of Winston-Salem, N.C., worked at the Manila, Philippines-based Asian Development Bank from 1986 until 1997, when he decided to give up banking for the blue and make Lampano Alley his full-time occupation.
David Gonzales
VISIT www.bluesasia.com
"The current blues scene traces its beginnings to Binky Lampano, an icon in the local alternative music scene, who formed the Newly Industrialized Combo, or NIC, and began to generate considerable interest in the blues."
"All this activity culminated a year ago when promoters Tata and Lynn Francisco staged the First Manila Blues Festival, a series of 12 weekly blues concerts which explored the gamut of blues in the Philippines Festival performances were recorded and broadcast as a prime-time two-hour radio program a week later."
"The festival also brought unprecedented media attention: Over a three-month span, more than 100 articles about the blues were scattered amonth the city's newspapers and magazines, and the sponsoring radio station aired 752 30-second promo spots."
"Local television has picked up on the blues too. Lampano Alley -- now preparing its debut album, which will be the first all-original blues album ever released in the country -- has twice been telecast nationwide on Concert in the Park, and both the Blue Rats and Lampano Alley were featured on Martin Late at Night, the Philippine equivalent to Jay Leno and David Letterman."