And since I've been gone for a bit, I'd like to share two songs today. Yay!
I recorded this beautiful OPM hit song entitled "Tuwing Umulan At Kapiling Ka" (Everytime It Rains and You're Beside Me...tama ba?) in 2008, right smack middle of winter (hindi siya ulan...isnow siya! :))
This was a special request from my good friends at my Pinoy Kodakero flickr.com community. An excellent suggestion particularly from our resident chef, Zeetz Jones who happens to love this song. (Theme song niya? ^_^)
I didn't have a proper set-up then so this was recorded straight into my iMac from my Yamaha PSR1500 around midnight while the kids slept. I didn't have a microphone either. :p I was hoping the photos in the slideshow would make up for the low-tech. LOL.
The fabulous images you see in the video are not mine. They belong to the very talented, generous and fun flickr peeps, some of whom became friends of mine. I had the good chance of meeting them in one of the PK Tagaytay meet-ups back in 2009.
So, sa mga mahal kong Kaberks ng PK, salamat sa magagandang ala-ala. (at mga obra!) Umuulan po dito kaya heto at sentihan time ulit!
Til our next collaboration. Keep shooting!
Courage in creativity,
Chiqui (aka ikat115 on flickr)
Hello! Hello! Welcome to the new visitors to the 100songs!* So good to have you over.
10TriviaAtbp.
1. Among the perks of my singing career in the 90s was getting to know some of the music industry's legends. One of them was the great composer, Mr. George Canseco.
2. Nini Valera wrote on November 20, 2004 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer, as a tribute: The
songwriter, who wrote some of Pinoy pop music's most enduring classics,
died of liver cancer at 10 a.m. yesterday at the Kidney Institute. He
was 70. His enduring ballads -- all sad, sentimental songs about having
loved and lost -- will forever be part of Filipino pop culture. Like his
song says, "Ngayon at Kailanman."
3. The late Mr. Canseco and I had coinciding stints at a music lounge in Quezon City. I'm trying to remember the name of the hotel but couldn't. What I do recall is that the facade of the building had a castle-like structure. Camelot! Mr. C had the earlier set and I had the later one. I didn't last long. I didn't like the feel of the place, too many interesting characters. I have dozens of stories about my lounge singer days. One day I'll tell you all about it.
4. Ngayon at Kailanman became a very popular movie theme which starred one of my favorites, Sharon Cuneta. I remember going to the theaters with my mom and sisters because we were such fans. I still am.
6. I got to meet her too, during the height of my showbiz career. I remember being invited to a karaoke party - the launch of a movie - one with Ms. Cuneta and Rudy Fernandez † in it. I got to sit in the same table as the Megastar but was all tongue tied to say anything. Mega fail. :p
7. I love OPM (Original Pilipino Music). Tagalugin mo, hija. Mahal ko ang OPM! I think I'll stick to it for a while for the 100songs project.
8. It's all spring-like again. From a very cold, rainy couple of weeks ago to this warm, 24ºC during the day. The vegetation's getting all confused! The leaves are all "Should we fall or stay in our branches?" and the birds frustrated with the 'to migrate or not to migrate' routine!
9. Recovery rocks! Still a bit hoarse but getting there.
10. Thanksgiving was a whole lot of happy indeed, beginning with feeling better and coming together with family over the weekend. Finally had a chance to meet the newest addition to the Azimi clan! I was able to hold baby Olivia and change her diaper, too. That brought back a flood of sweet baby memories, some I'd like to keep that way. :D
1) Song #12 was sung with the pesteng ubo (a bad cough) and in PJ's too. :) It's such a gentle arrangement of a lovely song so I went for it. The multi-talented and legendary Jim
Paredes of the Apo Hiking Society is a friend (but I'm still starstruck as ever. Ano ba hija?!?) not from showbiz but from my one Tubataha Dive week which he and the late Redford White invited me to. I hope I did the song
justice, Jim. :p I may re-record when I'm feeling much better. But in the
spirit of im.perfect.ion...
2) Rediscovered this gem via a bunch of minus one CDs - a gift for Tita Fe and Rita - that was supposed to be given last Saturday. I wasn't able to make it to the bday celebration and the CDs were sitting on my work table - Charice, Vina Morales and Sarah Geronimo songs - before handing it over.(Sorry, Tita Fe. Binuksan ko siya! :p) Happy*accidentally found so many great songs there! Yay, more for the 100! This When I Met You version was done by Sarah in her earlier years...I believe 2004.
3) I did two versions of song #12. Version 1 sounded very un-GLEE-ful. Parang tulog at halatang halata ang lowbatt-ness. LOL. So I had to amp it up a bit for Version 2. I've been on a The Glee Project marathon since Saturday (watch the whole first season all
throughout the weekend til tonight!) and laughed, cried, cheered and
LEARNED lesson after lesson on being an artist from and with the whole Glee team. Love the creators of that show.
4) Top lesson (re)learned from the show: More vulnerability please and thank you. That was
what was missing from the first recording. I hope it came through in #2...without the plema sounds. Ergk. And the sablay phrasing and lyrics. And tentative pauses. Ahhh...so imperfectly perfect. Hayluvet!
5) Completely unrelated to the song but significant to singing...I must MUST begin eating right, to be more conscious of my food. This painful, energy-draining cough is due to bad eating habits. Bad eating habits equals low resistance equals ubo at sipon! Urg. I've been on a junk-filled binge since I got back from Manila last Aug 31. My excuse: homesickness. (Emo-eating daw o! Translation: Katakawan.) Now no more. Back to fruits, lots more vegetables and precious vitamins and Omega 3 stuff. Grocery day tomorrow.
6) It's getting so very cold here in TO these days. We started turning on the heat which I don't really like because it makes the house stuffy and dry. There goes my skin. :(
7) Just spoke with the Hubster J. and heard great news. As we speak, another Azimi baby is being born! WOOHOO. This time an
angel for my bro, Mike (J's youngest brother) and sister, Daniela.
Welcome to the world, Baby O! What a wonderful world indeed, more so
now that you're here! ^_^
8) It feels good to be singing for the 100songs again! How long has it been since the last one? Five days. EE, wag na manghawa ng flu-ishness ha! LOL EE is musicman/pianist/artist/a Mr. Eric Evangelista of the Panaginip (Day 3) and River (Day 11) fame. He had the ubo't sipon right before I had mine. He passed it on to me. He lives in the U.S. I'm in Canada. I therefore conclude germs transmute via garageband. You know I'm kidding, right?
9) When I Met You reminds me of my U.P. (Diliman) days. Kasabayan 'to (in my mixed tape anyway :p) 'to with Joey Albert's A Million Miles Away and Basil Valdez's Ngayon At Kailanman (which my very first boyfriend C used to sing to me on the piano...oooy!) And the Ikot jeepney rides. And a ride w/ 'Bruno'. Correction: 'in' Bruno da truck. :D And isaw at fishballs. By the A.S. steps. And our very own 'Glee' called the Ecosoc choir led by the radiantz Brenzz. :D And, and, and!
10) I'd like to end my imperfect blabberings with this perfect quote from Walt Whitman: “Re-examine all you have been told...
Dismiss what insults your Soul.”
Courage in creativity,
Chiqui
P.S. Thanks, Pongsky da Techsky for showing me soundcloud.com! ;)
P.P.S. and Toddster for teaching me the "all in one" key. Haay, the kindness of friends. :) Love it.
1* Best showbiz experience ever.
2* I was starstruck every single day of rehearsal and all-throughout the performances.
3* This was my first and last major play. It happened on the 10th year of being in the business.
4* A lot of people didn't understand my "leaving" then.
5* Most comments were to the tune of "but you're at the peak of your career and now you're letting it go?!?"
6* Life Learning: Sometimes the Outside doesn't match the Inside. And when you're heart's not in it...
7* I was feeling so out of place, burnt-out, disillusioned. Sometimes show business (or any kind of binis for that matter) can do that.
8* I do miss the bling-ness of it all - the trappings,the entourage, the yayas,...the illusion. But my life has its own version of bling now. One that's more organic and definitely more genuine in its shine.
9* And I am struck in a way where I would literally give my heart to the stars of my life.
10* As the title of the song goes "Sana Siya Na Nga" which translates to "I Hope He's The One". Well, turns out The One was never out there but in here. With two, three, four and five completing the circle!
Here's to you the journey of finding YOU if you haven't began yet...
And if you have...YOUhoooooooo!!!
1~ This song was inspired by a very dear friend's relationship story, you know the one where there's a huge misunderstanding and breaking up and all that drama that we all inevitably go through in one way or another. It all happened last year.
2~ I wrote this entire song in no more than 30 minutes. Still brings tears to my
eyes when I sing it because it bring back the memories of growing pains...and love. Oh, the LOVE. In the end, it's all that really matters.
3~ It's 9:31PM. I'm normally done by mid-afternoon. But good old Resistance was really strong with this one. I think it's because it's "my" song, my words, my innards! which makes me feel more vulnerable.
4~ As if that wasn't issue enough, I dared myself to do a Take 1, you know, just for fun (and because I was off by a couple of hours on chores!) and so I left in all the choked-up, cracky, drippy bits which I would have normally edited out. I am braving emotional honesty and vulnerability.
5~ Happy thoughts! Happy thoughts! I am so happy, so very grateful for the response of friends and fellow artists on this little project I've got going here...more collaborations, which I like to call CoLOVEborations. Because that's what this is all about if you think about it.
6~ Requests for certain songs and genres are beginning to come in, too! I like.
7~ Some friends are complaining that they can't open the link to the songs. Hmmm...must check up on that. No, Marjo, you are not tech-challenged. :p
8~ Yay, Friday na bukas! I'm so excited to sleep in! Sleeeeeeep, I love and miss you.
9~ Is it too early to sing Christmas songs? Ok. Don't answer that.
10~ It was so darn cold today when I picked up the kids from school. We had to wear gloves when we went biking around the block. Summer is definitely over in these parts.
Aaaand my day is now over. And out. Goodnight, fellow creatives!
