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] Date Posted:23:16:42 04/25/04 Sun Author Host/IP: adsl-126.40.67.info.com.ph/222.126.40.67
here is an article my friend-writer wrote for a mag in San Francisco about the Songbird's concert wiht Ogie. read on...
Ma. Gracia Romero
Philippine Fiesta April 15-22
The Songbird and the Songwriter electrify San Francisco
There is an undeniable fact that songwriter Ogie Alcasid and Asia’s songbird Regine Velasquez complement each other’s voice to create a perfectly blended music. Ogie and Regine who are friends on and off the camera, had artistically displayed an extraordinary mixture of their voices and well portrayed every word of their songs as they serenade the audience at Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco last March 27.
The concert dubbed as “The Songbird and the Songwriter” had been a showcase of OPM hits of Regine and Ogie from their own albums as well as their version of their favorite Filipino hits. They both conceptualized the format of the show which is their first back-to-back concert after eleven years of working together.
“We want to bring something different for the Bay Area community, we’re bringing in great music, a lot of love songs which most of them I wrote, a lot of comedy and a mixture of everything plus you’ll see Regine really dancing”, Ogie declares during a press conference held at Hilton Garden Inn last March 25.
They started the sold-out concert with upbeat songs. Ogie showed first with Urong Sulong tempting every person in the crowd to put their hands together. The crowd was startled when Regine, wearing a short red dress, joined Ogie and did a back to back performance of a Rivermaya hit Hinahanap-hanap Kita and Ako’y Iyong Iyo.
After their breathtaking performance, they greeted the audience by making funny introduction of each other putting everybody into laughter. Regine initiated tagging herself as the songbird, on the contrary Ogie with his impeccable comic spiels made fun of his title. Regine gave the cue for Ogie’s first solo appearance when he was introduced as a great singer, as a good composer, a matinee idol and as a great actor. “Hindi ba look-alike ko si Piolo Pascual?” Ogie jokingly uttered trying to
have all the eyes of the crowd.
Ogie and Regine really stood out as total performers. They had reinvented themselves to capture everybody’s attention while performing songs they made together as well as pop hits in the Philippines. They do solo appearances and relived the audience who are hungry of Filipino songs with their own hits and some of their personal favorites. Ogie sang Bongga Ka Day and Nandito Ako.
Regine is indeed a performer to behold. She proved her title as Asia’s Songbird as she can at any time gracefully bring to the fore her astonishing voice and stun everyone as she hit the high notes. She guided the audience on the videos as shown on the two video wall playing clips from her movies with some promising actors like Richard Gomez, Aga Muhlach, and Robin Padilla. Video rolled one after the other as she sang the soundtracks of the movie clips. Regine who is turning 34 on April 22 said she has nothing to wish because she is happy on how her career is going.
In between duet and performances is a lively chitchat. Ogie speculated that the reason why Regine had not found “the one” yet was because she was perceived as unreachable, thus he challenged her to perform something that the common people appreciates as he sing Bayani Agbayani’s hits Otso Otso. Regine showed off in panty-shorts and knee high boots and performed a Sexbomb hit “Spaghetti Song”. The crowd was on top of their lungs when Ogie appeared in a two-piece Hawaiian swimwear and sang Viva Hot Babes hit “Bulaklak”.
While both of them were changing their outfits backstage, video footages are shown to entertain the crowd. There were interviews and funny footages to keep the spirit of the audience like interviews with Richard and Lucy Gomez; Diego (a gay comedian) and his boyfriend Christian on what they like about their partners and suddenly a funny video of Regine and Ogie was played as they interchanged their roles making Ogie as the pregnant wife and Regine as the husband.
Both did well sustaining the spirit of the audience. They shifted the genre of their music so well that one can never had too much of something. After playing love songs, they swing the mood of the music into a disco music. Regine and Ogie invited the crowd to stand up and dance with them as they sing Happy. Also one of the noticeably creative styles that they did was to thank the sponsors of the concert on the tune of Parokya ni Edgar’s “Mr. Swabe”.
The crowd on their feet to leave the center was stopped when footage of Captain Barbell (a movie they made together) was played on the video wall. Everybody tried to get near the stage to take pictures of Ogie and Regine on their costumes while singing the soundtrack of their movie team-up.
“It’s really nice working with someone whom you know so well, like sa mga concert tour where you see each other almost everyday and during rehearsals, and we’ve known each other for quite a while”, Regine said.
From beginning to the end, the songbird and the songwriter had lived up to their promises of a quality show. The entire show was full of energetic moves and creative styles that balanced the lively and the OPM numbers. It is really amazing how the words of Ogie’s songs match perfectly on the high notes of Regine. They have proven well enough they really do beautiful music together.
“I look at myself as a storyteller, I write song na merong story like may antagonist, may kalaban, may conflict, I put them together in a song and that inspires most of my music”, Ogie said. He wrote some of Regine’s hits that marked the charts of every radio station and music reviews like Pangako, Magpakailanman, Pangarap Kong Ibigin Ka, and Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw. Asked during a press conference if she also writes songs, she simply replied “no need, friend ko naman siya e (pointing to Ogie)”
Both undoubtedly had already reached the peak of their careers but both seem to be very eager on trying something different. “Mahilig ako mag-experiment e, I am planning for my next album to be different, not the usual romantic songs, I want something upbeat” Regine said. She added that she would like to do more musical presentation in the years to come. A new album is on the making for Ogie, “it will be different from my other album” but he kept the details as to how it will be different.
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