Day 13 - A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days (write a letter)

Martin Nievera. He's my greatest musical influence, and I've been listening to his songs all the time - including those worst times that I've been in. Knowing that he himself is a survivor of a lot of storms in his life is an inspiration to me.

Concert King & the Sessionistas

The ASAP Sessionistas' tribute to the Concert King last Sunday was simply amazing, at the same time, touching to hear Martin's greatest hits sung by such beautiful voices. Yes, a lot of great singers nowadays, but no one still comes close to the King - my greatest musical influence.

Going into his 29th year in show business next year,

the Concert King still reigns supreme!

Chasing Time

As I'm looking far beyond,

any possible dreams

I see faces; familiar places; forever -

no lukewarm in-betweens

the scattered memories I collect,

are like brilliant sunlit rays

piercing through the clouds,

of what was once a perfect day

The symphonic harmony,

that becomes the song of the sea

Find me lost and so afraid;

haunted by the melody

It moves me, thrills me,

makes me believe

that God was in a good mood,

when he gave this day to me

For the journey from within,

is surely the longer mile

No time to stop, to think,

or even wish a while

So here again that nagging question,

is this life really mine?

Just don't look back, eyes forward -

when I'm

Chasing Time...

Ikaw

Day 23 of the 30 Day Song Challenge - A song that you want to play at your wedding

One beautiful song that I sang at our wedding is the classic Ikaw composed by the late George Canceco. The lyrics and the melody of the song just touches the listener's heart. A lot of versions by different artists have been released, but for me, Martin's version is most heartfelt.

Our Song

Day 8 of the 30 Day Song Challenge - A song that you know all the words to

One song that I've sung more than any other song is You Are My Song by my greatest musical influence, Martin Nievera. He composed the song with his best friend Louie Ocampo originally for Regine Velasquez as theme song for Regine's movie, Wanted Perfect Mother. Martin recorded 2 renditions of the song, the acoustic (just a piano for accompaniment) and the Mad Man version (complete orchestration and back-up vocals), and became instant hits too.

During the time when he was making this song, it was just because of the movie. Later on, it became the song that he dedicated to Katrina. This has become Martin's sort of anthem and his concerts are never complete without this song. I, too, have embraced this song and it's still one of the most requested songs in most of my gigs.

Happy Birthday, Concert King

Today, my greatest musical influence turns 48 years old, and is still the Philippines' reigning Concert King. Almost 30 years in the business and Martin Ramon Nievera is showing no signs of slowing down.

Mabuhay ka, Martin, and may you continue to touch and make a positive difference in the lives of many people around the world as you have made in mine.

Happy Birthday, my Idol!

Together Again

As always, it was an amazing evening with the Concert King and Queen. As I've said a million times before, Martin is my greatest musical influence, and though I was never a fan of Pops, I've always admired how they make beautiful music together. I was also lucky enough to record most of the concert.

Here's one of the songs they performed beautifully, originally composed and sung by an old friend of mine, Aiza Seguerra.

It was a romantic evening as the Cebuano audience witnessed Martin and Pops together again, at least on-stage.

Waiting

Been here outside the entrance of the Grand Ballroom of the Waterfront Hotel & Casino since 3:00 PM, and it's now 6:55 PM on my watch. I just wanted to make sure that once the doors will be opened, I will be one of the first to go and reserve seats for my wife and close friend who are on their way here already. The producers said they'll open the doors at 7:00 PM. I'm hoping they will but based on experience, for the countless times I've been to Martin's concerts, the doors will be opened at around 7:30 PM and the show usually starts 8:45 to 9:00 PM.

I'm so excited to see my idol again after a long, long while. I don't see any signs or warnings that cameras are not allowed so good thing I brought mine. And yes, thank you to the Waterfront Hotel for the free WiFi while waiting for almost 4 hours, and thank you to my ever trusted phone (which is incidentally a year old today) for connecting me to the world wide web.

Martin and the Lupang Hinirang

As I'm writing this, the Concert King, my greatest musical influence, Martin Ramon Razon-Nievera is under fire for his performance in Manny's last fight. They said that Martin sang the Lupang Hinirang wrongly. According to The National Historical Institute (NHI), "...the Philippine National Anthem should be sang like a marching song. And based on Republic Act 8491, Sec. 37: The rendition of the national anthem, whether played or sung, shall be in accordance with the musical arrangement and composition of Julian Felipe."

For his part, Martin said he will not apologize: "I have never had to explain a song so much, but obviously this needs to be explained for those who didn’t like it. And even after all of this explaining, they still won’t. It's gonna be hard for me to apologize for something that I am not sorry for. I did not ask to do the anthem. Manny Pacquiao himself asked me to sing the national anthem. It was my honor to be blessed with this awesome responsibility and I have no one to apologize to becaue Manny asked me to sing this song. Obviously, he wants me to sing it the way I would sing it. I didn't change any of the notes. I did not make R&B. I interpreted the song the way understood it. From the deepest part of my hear, I sang for my country."

Martin continued, "I was told many times by many ... most especially by Manny Pacquiao ... not to sing it slow. They wanted me to sing it like a march, the way it was written. Even the politicians I consulted the day before the fight said I should not sing it like an R&B ballad. So at the last minute I had an arranger do a simple, ethnic-inspired minus one that begins slow, because I believe one needs to walk before he marches ... The crowd ... cheered when the tempo picked up.”

“I have watched many of Manny’s fights, and whenever the national anthem is sung, I could never hear the most important line, ‘Ang mamatay nang dahil sa ’yo (To die for you)!’ So I elected to end the song big, the better to be heard over the usual screams and boos, and ... get the final message of the song across... It's not a crime to try to inspire a nation—which was all I tried to do. I sang it like it was the last song I would ever sing. I wanted to make my country proud and believed that if I could contribute to the inspiration factor by delivering the song properly, then my job was done.”

I totally agree with Martin, and not just because he's my idol. He did not destroy nor change the song. In fact, a lot were inspired by his version. And if you really listen to it, he did sing the song in a marching beat, in my opinion, in accordance with how Mr. Felipe arranged it in 1898. Yes, he started the song slow, and ended it with a sustained final note, but to me, that just added to the impact of the song. His version is one of the most beautiful versions I've ever heard.

If the NHI is so concerned with the correct version of the song, they should have released the perfect version and distributed it worldwide for everyone to know. They should educate everyone about it, and other things that their agency is concerned about. They should be proactive in educating the people, not just reacting every time something happens. I only hear about the NHI every time the Lupang Hinirang is sang publicly. Whenever there is an event (most of the time, Pacquiao's fights), they always come out after to criticize the singers of the Lupang Hinirang for singing the song "wrongly."

I stand by Martin and his rendition. If the NHI wants to punish him for "breaking the law," they should also punish everyone else for incorrectly singing the song. In my pre-school, elementary and high school years, we always sang the national anthem everyday, except rainy days, and never do I remember the song sung in a marching (the "correct") beat. It has been 12 years
since I graduated from high school, but I don't think the singing of the song in schools has changed.

People are just so inconsistent.