PHL blues band scores a second time in Memphis

Who says lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice?
    
For the second year in a row, Filipino blues band Brat Pack reached the finals of the 31st International Blues Challenge (IBC) held in Memphis, Tennessee, last January, making them the first Philippine band and the first Asian one to notch this historic achievement.

Brat Pack reached the finals in the Band category last year from among 255 bands from 40 US states and 16 countries, and were the first Asian group to do so in the IBC’s history.

PH fields four bands in 2015

The week-long competition in Memphis this year, which featured 250 acts from all around the world, saw the most representation this year from the Philippines, which sent three bands covering all the IBC categories.

According to Philippine Blues Society (PBS) director lawyer Roy Allan Magturo, “This year PBS sent the Glass Cherry Breakers to compete in the Band category, Ian Lofamia and Joric Maglanque in Solo/Duo, and Mean Jay to participate in the non-competitive Youth Showcase.”

Brat Pack was fielded by the Manila-based Blues Asia Network (BAN) founded by Tom Colvin. Both BAN and PBS are non-profit organizations dedicated to promoting and uplifting the blues genre.
    
Brat Pack repeats feat

This year, Brat Pack — composed of Christine (“Xtine”) Mercado (vocals), RJ Pineda (keyboard), Allan Abdulla (drums), and David de Koenigswarter (bass) — entered the finals again as one of 10 bands, but lost to a hometown choice.
The novelty of their sound lies in a keyboard-charged sound that foregoes the use of a conventional lead guitar.

RJ Pineda’s flying fingers have garnered much praise; according to blues writer Joe Boone, “The Brat Pack has a jumpy, piano-driven sound that could move a room in any hemisphere.”

Jim Vogan, a regular IBC scenester, said of RJ, “I saw Jerry Lee [Lewis] when I was 16 years old, and I haven’t seem him do what [RJ’s] doing on the keyboard.”

“[Brat Pack’s] was a perfectly executed game plan,” said Los Angeles-based campaign mentor and veteran bluesman Binky Lampano Jr. “But it didn’t sit too well with the finals judges with a natural inclination to the blues guitar sound.

“However,” he added, “Brat Pack was a force of nature, and even Memphis couldn’t understand how it came to be.”

Glass Cherry Breakers heat it up

Glass Cherry Breakers (GCB), this year’s PBS playoffs winner, reached the quarter-finals in the Band category. The band is composed of Maegan Aguilar (vocals), daughter of the famous Filipino folk singer Freddie Aguilar, Sammy “Faith” Asuncion (guitar), Boyet Aquino (drums), Louie Talan (bass), and Niki  Cabardo (keyboard). 
Aguilar blazed like the tropical sun and set the frozen Memphis nights on fire, scorching heat in every note she sung.

Boone said, “[GCB] know about the dynamics curve of turning a song from a whisper-like ember into a run-down-the-street-with-a-can-of-gasoline act of musical arson.”

Lofamia-Maglanque duo wow crowd

Ian Lofamia and Joric Maglangque (aka “Delta Slim”), who competed in the Solo/Duo category, were popular with the crowd. Their lack of practice time together, however, may have hampered them from reaching the semis, as Ian is Philippine-based while Slim is in Canada.

Award-winning guitarist Watermelon Slim said of Lofamia after catching one of his performances, “He’s one hell of a player from the PI [Philippine Islands].”

Mean Jay show off youthful talent

So magnetic was Mean Jay’s draw at the Youth Showcase that they were asked to host the jams being held in various cafes on Beale Street.

Mean Jay are Joko Reantaso, 15 (vocals, guitar), Cariisa Ramos, 19 (bass), and Zach Zerrudo, 19 (drums). The teenagers started playing the blues only six or seven months ago.

They won the open genre event of the Sessionista contest at Tiendesitas  a few months back, and placed third in the annual PBS competition.

Magturo, who also takes care of the campaign logistics, said, “Mean Jay was so busy, and so in-demand. They were probably the youngest to perform in that capacity in Memphis.”

PHL bands on Beale

Colvin said Beale Street in Memphis, where the IBC is held, is like Jupiter Street in Makati, but twice as long, and crammed with blues bars left and right.

“Our bands invaded Beale Street, playing simultaneously in various venues,” said Magturo.

In Rum Boogie Café, it was Ian and Joric, Brat Pack, and Mean Jay. In BB Kings Café, Mean Jay and GCB wowed the crowd in the Asia-Pacific Showcase along with bands that PBS invited from Australia.

“What gave me a goosebumps moment,” recalls Magturo, “was when Mean Jay played a Filipino tune, 'Balong Malalim' of Juan de la Cruz Band, to an appreciative American audience.”

Bayanihan as key to success

PBS has been sending representatives to the IBC for the past four years, holding an annual band showdown to determine the country’s candidates.

In 2012, the Bleu Rascals played in the IBC Youth Showcase, while in 2013 Kat Magic Express and Electric Sala represented the PBS in the band contest and Youth Showcase respectively.

The annual Philippine invasion of Memphis, says Magturo, succeeds also because of the support of the Memphis Filipino community.

“We would have had a much harder time without their help,” said Magturo. “They opened their homes to us, fed us, took us around, provided cheering and moral support. They showed that bayanihan is alive and well there, and that it works every single time.”

Looking forward to next year

Lampano remarked, “This year is a high-watermark in the Philippines’ participation in the IBC. The bands all brought their triple-A game.”

But what about the future for Philippine blues?

We’ve proven that the country doesn’t lack for talent. What it does need are bands that have mastered the traditional blues before putting their own interpretation on the genre, a criterion that IBC judges have been observed to note.

What’s also important, according to Lampano, is this: “You gotta play with joy. That’s the whole point, you’re communicating. The audience by instinct know what the performers’ fingers are doing. It’s getting the feeling across. You need chemistry.”

Above all, he said, “You need to tell a story.”    —KBK, GMA News