FILM SOUNDTRACKS IN THE WORKS

Hey everyone!

 I know storm Cosme was a curse for many people, but the wind and the rain really made me sit down in our balcony and stare at the sky.  As always, music started playing in my head, and I couldn’t stop it. Drums — bass drums. And vibraphones. And  twinkling pianos. And plucked cellos.

 You’ll probably hear some of these sounds when you watch Joel Ruiz’s feature film debut "Baby Angelo" at the Cinemalaya soon. I’m working on the score as well as the songs for the film. I also just finished re-arranging an existing song for Paolo Herras’ new film "The Fortuneteller." And a few weeks back Auraeus Solito had me arrange the Cherie Gil hit "Boy" for his new triple-X rated (heheh) "avant-gay" opus. Exciting new films by talented filmmakers — glad to be working with great minds!

Meanwhile, my own personal work keeps getting shelved to a later date. I "tested" my new piano instrumental (tentatively titled "Southern Afternoon") at an informal gathering last month. It went quite well. I’m also listening to Oscar Peterson for inspiration — that guy can turn the piano into a wind instrument! We also put Johnny Alegre Affinity on and Wdouji rather frequently these days to calm our minds. The music is like shiatsu for the brain.

Thanks to my Candid Records family for their patience! 

PS: Axel, please read my reply to your query on the shoutbox below. 

On Artists’ Rights and Value -Online and Offline

I have a writer friend who’s very wary of the internet. He feels that the internet is robbing great articles -and good writers -of their real value to the world. That’s why when he submits an article to an offline publication, he tries to persuade the editor not to make it available on the online version of the publication. If it’s made available online, he demands that he get paid for that as well.

 The same thing must be true for all creative people everywhere. The moment any of their songs, photos, stories, drawings and visions arrive on the internet, people treat them like public property. Songs, photos, stories, drawings and visions that took time, energy and sometimes a lot of money to produce. And what do they get in return? They’re lucky if they even get as much as a request to grant permission for usage of their work (or a simple credit that proves authorship of the work).

That said, I’d like to give props and credit and an (I’m-now-stabbing-my-face-with-papercuts) apology to At Maculangan who shot the album cover of my EP "Katakataka" as well to the rest of the art community here in Manila whom I’ve been given the honor to have worked with at one time or another but whom I’ve failed to give the proper dues (monetary or otherwise) they deserve for their artistry (because I’m lacking those dues myself, he he). God knows we should all band together and unionize so that we can all acquire the leverage to cut better deals for ourselves. Or at least give each other the moral support whenever we’re feeling too diyahe to ask people (our friends, even) to value our work more, monetary AND otherwise.

Enlisting the services of artist-friends for the "friendship rate" (presyong kaibigan) is sooo Filipino! It’s time we changed that to this equation:

World class artistry = friendship rate PLUS standard industry rate!

This way, artists will have a better incentive to give you their best work, not because of the money, but because you value them enough to give them good money! It’s the valuing and not the money that artists want to get from you.

But what if you value them but…..don’t have the money?

Well…the "IOU" or pay later system often works. Barter doesn’t work  (at least for me) because value systems are different from artist to artist . It doesn’t make sense, for example, to offer to arrange original music in exchange for a consultancy service. The first service used up a lot of time and electricity while the second one merely used up time. It can’t be music for music for me because even two artists from the same field use a different set of standards. It can be, however, music for a paid 2-day vacation or a couple of dinner meals in a good resto. 

Artistry should be our currency to gain entrance to the good life, not to a museum of beautiful clutter (which is what artists tend to offer to their fellow artists).

I’m sorry for all the beautiful clutter, people.

Will clean it up! 

HAPPY 2008!

Happy New Year! 

2007was pretty good to me. Two of my songs ("Lately I’ve Been Lonely" and "Manhid") were licensed by Star Cinema for the movie Paano Kita Iibigin starring Regine Velasquez and Piolo Pascual with Bb. Joyce Bernal at the helm.  "Manhid" was produced by Regine herself for the OST of the movie. Another song ("Sayaw Sa Hangin" - from the Katakataka album) was licensed for Dennis Trillo’s album, the first outing from Regine’s own Indi Music label.  I love the vocal harmonies she layered it with. Regine’s quite a formidable producer, and I hope Indi Music continues to fly.

I had several scoring gigs here and there, most notable being a couple of episodes for the drama series MMK. First time to work for TV. Roda and Ginny and Alma and Lindsay and everyone there are some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet.

The head honchos from my label were in town last December. Was thrilled to finally meet British producer Alan Bates in person! We talked at length about their plans for me and how Isha can be made to fit in their overall scheme of things. Too bad our musical showcase at a bar in Ortigas was marred by an incident involving a couple of white-collar types who’d had one drink too many. 

Anyway, now working on demos for my next album - the concept keeps changing though but hopefully me and the new GM, Mr. Reck Cardinales, can finally nail it down soon. Can’t wait to get back into the recording studio with my band The Look!

Isha is back!

Hi all!

Inviting you all to come watch the Philippine leg of the Candid Music Jazz Festival on December 14 at Teatrino, Greenhills. I'll be performing a couple of songs including one from my upcoming album of reworkings of jazz standards.

More updates in the coming days!

Aside from performing jazz music, I also write songs in Filipino and in my own style. You may check out www.m2kmusic.net, click on the songwriters link, look for my page (Isha Abubakar) to listen to some of the songs I've written outside the jazz idiom.

Happy 2007!

God, time flies sooo fast! Hope everyone’s having a great start this year. I am happy to report that I am now almost five months pregnant and thus hibernating from the live performance circuit for a while. Everybody seems to be pregnant this year!

 
But the projects keep coming in. I just finished several scoring projects, arranged a song for rock group 6cyclemind, and now working on studies for a station jingle. I hope the blessings continue to pour!

A new music site I helped develop will be up soon and will feature an information page about Isha plus streaming samples of some of her songs. Will keep you posted! 

FAMOUS BUT ANONYMOUS

hello everyone! it’s been a loooong while since i last posted and there are new posts! thanks to rag, me and bambi for posting. rag, your observation about me being anonymous in UP is very interesting because it is true. the byline is “famous” but the person herself is non grata. i love the irony and i want to keep it that way!

 i’ve received many requests to have my piano instrumental “1992″ available as sheet music. i’m at a loss since i’m an oido player and i don’t know how to notate. if any of you guys can transcribe it yourself i’ll be more than happy to take a look at your work!

 still busy with more scoring projects and…the rock musicale, finally, is on its way! we’re having our first show on october 26 in angono, 27 in teatro marikina, 28 in brgy. tonsuya, malabon. free admission. the stars are mostly theater people, and our lead will be essayed by a wonderful dancer, tassi. i’ve also met a wonderful keyboardist/singer named abby, who is a member of a prog rock band called fuseboxx. so happy to be meeting all these talented people!

by the way, last night i glimpsed imago’s performance on the sharon cuneta show. aya was just radiant, singing their infectious new single “taralets.” i’ve only spoken to her once, as game-mates in Game Ka Na Ba? but every word she told sharon cuneta about them sporting a more positive outlook and their music changing along with it feels very true and in sync with what i’ve glimpsed of her personality.

anyway, update update: i’ve been working on some new tunes and i’ve been getting good feedback for an original song i wrote years ago, entitled, ehem, ”kris aquino.”  this woman elicits the extremes of emotions - you either love her or hate her. the persona singing the song happens to “love” her, so…check out my other site candidisha.multiply.com coz i’m posting it soon. thanks!

Isha on the Lynn Sherman Show, August 20 (Sun) starts 9-930 pmish on RJTV

Please watch! RJTV is a cable channel - I think it’s channel 29. Thanks!

Isha on The Lynn Sherman show, airing August 20 (Sun) @ 9-930pm

hello!

we just taped the birthday episode of jazz vocalist Lynn Sherman and it was a riot! the musicians and the guests (most of them, at least) were in costume! Lynn herself was in a fabulous Wonder Woman costume especially created for the occasion by her inimitable stylist Odit Sarte. hope you can catch the show this sunday, august 20, around 9-930 pmish.

 if you’re a Tori Amos fan (like I am), Toriphile Alden Copuyoc and myself are hatching a plan to celebrate the Goddess’ birthday on August 22. we will hold a small listening/ dvd viewing party at Black Soup in Marikina Shoe Expo, Araneta Center, around 7 pm. call 4398838 for details or post your inquiries on this site.

On May, Bayang, Pilita, Noel, this August

A few weeks ago, I was invited by Noel Cabangon to sing one of his songs, “We Are,” for a “kawomenan” docu by WiseAct, and a couple of days ago I recorded it at Sonolux in Ateneo, with Noel himself producing and me singing on a rich audio bed of world music created by Bob Aves. It’s very tiring to be the star all the time, and it’s always better if the song was the star, and musicians are working for the song, not the other way around.

I also got to wear the producer’s hat a few times this month. The inimitable May Bayot recorded a song I wrote for the AIDS awareness musical we’re working on. Powerful, full-bodied alto, thrilling to hear And one Saturday this month, I got a chance to produce Bayang Barrios for the next batch of songs. Bayang is fun to work with. Game pa rin kahit sinisipon at inuubo! She loved the songs especially those that revolve on a mother’s love for her child, being a new mother herself to 3 month old Mayumi. Type din ni May yung mga lullabyes because they hit so close to the heart. I love it when songs produce that effect on people

Then I’ll be back in the studio to work with Makiling Ensemble and Ms.Pilita Corrales for music for an indie film called “Pandanggo.” We were beset by scheduling problems but hopefully everything is ironed out by the production team. Can’t wait to meet Ms. Corrales!

ISHA live July 2006

Please support my gigs this month:

July 19: WOMYN’s NYT @ Rock Ola (Penguin) Cafe, Malate, with Carol Bello Bandidas. 9 pm. 150php with one free drink. Carol and Libay have built their own galaxy with their networks from the NGO and academic community, at masaya ito. Visit dahondahondyaryo.blogspot.com for the poster.  I’m performing my set with a talented songwriter-guitarist named Ace Cada (who also fronts electropop band Bagetsafonik).

July 28: “Eat, Drink and Be Senti” @ Bespoke Furniture Store, Marikina Shoe Expo, Araneta Center Cubao. 9 pm. Artist-chef for the night is Seleena Cordero, former resident chef ng Asian Development Bank and who is leaving for Canada with her family soon, hence the senti show title Now selling tickets at P300 per head inclusive of food, drink, and of course, the show. Please call 4398838 c/o Lani or Gian of Black Soup. Promises to be a very laidback night, in a venue full of beautiful chairs…

HITS AND MISSES

Sad news: my Wednesday night gigs at Kenny D have been cancelled. According to Kenny D management my talent fee wasn’t matching sales returns. It really does take a while to build up a following, but given the economic climate now businesses are not up to risking on artists for them to build a following: there is an immediate assumption that recording artists already have a following, which is true for the mainstream artists but not for someone like me. You can’t keep inviting friends. You have to spread the music somehow, reach out to a wider audience, and this is what I wanted to do sana with my gigs there. But Ma’am Grace, Aileen, Ophie, Mando and the rest of the Kenny D staff have been nothing but generous and warm and for two consecutive Wednesdays they gambled on me and my off-kilter music. Thank you so much for the opportunity!

I will miss out on half the fun in life if I continue to fret over such misses, so I’m looking ahead now and I see sunshine! I am currently working on a musical on AIDS awareness, to be staged at various urban poor communities nationwide (and if we get lucky with funding, OFW communities abroad). Come first week of July our executive producer from Candid Records, Mummy Nieves, will be in town and I’m, as always, excited to meet with her and discuss possible projects.

SETS: June 24, 7 pm, I’ll be at Newsdesk near Timog Ave. to sing at the launch of a women’s erotica project  (I hear my goddess Grace Nono will be singing as well). June 30, 10pm, Streetscape at the Shangrila Mall in Mandaluyong for 3 sets of mostly originals and 80s stuff with my band The Look. July 1, 6pm at Eastwood Main Plaza for Rocked’s 1st anniversary concert (with Cynthia Alexander, Noel Cabangon, Salindiwa, Carol Bello, Kala, Pupil, UpDharma, Paolo Santos, Narda and other great acts!).

BLACKSOUP PRESENTS: I am part of an artists collective known as Cubao X and once a month we hold an intimate musical event at Black Soup (a filmmakers collective) in Marikina Shoe Expo, Araneta Center. A filmmaker or artist chef prepares a specially-made dish and a musician gives a performance. On July 15 we are proud to present NOEL CABANGON live. Due to space constraints, only 50 tickets will be sold at P250 each (including food, drink and show - a good deal!). It’s al fresco - meal by candlelight, outdoor performance. Perfect for dates. Please get in touch with blacksoup_inc@yahoo.com or call Lani or Gian at 4398838 for more details.

I foresee the following months will be quiet as I immerse in more work and find ways to earn some income from my music. The life of a recording artist, after all, is not as glamorous as it’s often made out to be. It’s a lot of work and you have to love it and live it to make it.

Isha live in June 2006

MOOD-LIGHT WEDNESDAY NIGHTS @ KENNY & D. Hello! You are all invited to my solo piano & vocal performance every Wednesday night at Kenny & D Bar inside the HOme Depot Complex, near Pier One, along J. Vargas in Ortigas Center, Pasig. Show starts 930 pm. The bar is charging a very reasonable cover of P50, and a bottle of beer costs P50. The salpicao is very good, as is the acoustics and the baby grand! Me and my booking agent Music Bridge have been looking for a place for my music since releasing Time and Again in 2004, and we’ve had a couple of hits and misses because my music will only work best with a baby grand, a good engineer — and a not-so-expensive gate. Yes, I had to audition for this, but so far it’s been worth it. Mando the engineer does a wonderful job everytime, and me and the baby grand are sisters now.

FILM LAUNCH OF MILO AND CYNTHIA PAZ @ 70s BISTRO, 930 pm. I am a musical scorer, and being married to a filmmaker, I’ve since earned many filmmaker friends, including Milo and Cynthia. I will be sharing some songs and last I heard, Noel Cabangon and Joey Ayala will be playing as well. I’m excited to be both performer and audience…

ROCK-ED @ EASTWOOD, JUNE 9, 10pmish. Gang Badoy and Aggie Nonog, the tireless organizers of the Rock-Ed series, have invited me to be part of their advocacy, and I hope in my own small, intimate, piano-dependent way, I am helping

STREETSCAPE GIG on JUNE 30, SHANG MALL, MANDALUYONG. For the first time in what feels like ages, I am playing again with The Look - Simon Tan and Jayvee Torres. I missed them…

My gig sked doesn’t seem like much compared to those of other bands…but in fact, I’m already terribly busy. AM working on songs for a musical on AIDS awareness sponsored by CCCi and I have a couple of scoring projects coming up. I feel WONDERFUL! Thank God

THE PERFORMING SONGWRITER: An introduction

hello everyone!

hope you’re having a wonderful summer! i’d like to thank spenz for posting. am glad you enjoyed the set at shang last time!

had a chat last night with musicians bopsy sorioso (formerly of sipol) and jimmmy bondoc, who owns musikero cafe near timog. bopsy is a good friend from way back in high school; he’s put in a good word for me that’s why jimmy’s now booking me to play at his cafe. i can go on about bopsy’s guitar-playing prowess and how wonderful his original compositions are, but i’m writing about jimmy in particular to acknowledge the power of musicians helping one another and introduce to the local scene the concept of the performing songwriter. jimmy is the sole owner of his cafe and is the endorser of behringer products. he has found himself a good way to live his life in music, no doubt propelled by his commercial success. but he is doing it in a way to foster a sense of community among fellow musicians. i mean this guy doesn’t know me from eve, but he called me up, forgot that thousands of girls find him adorable, and reached out to a fellow musician. his openness is what startled me.

of course there were others before jimmy. cynthia alexander, joey ayala, noel cabangon, gary granada and the Conspiracy group have all welcomed performing songwriters into the fold because they are performing songwriters themselves. cynthia has been booking artists like myself to play at C, which is an amazing honor! there’s an awesome sense of affirmation going on at a C gig, when cynthia or bayang barrios or mike villegas drops in on you and hollers a line or two. A performing songwriter is a rarity in our music scene, because there’s this really sad perception that filipinos already have enough of music, so why make more? and then when it happens to have tagalog lyrics they won’t play it at seattle’s best katipunan (although the staff there - at my behest, being a performing songwriter customer, did play the rest of my first all-original EP except for my one Tagalog song, which is really sad, like WHY????, but these cafes would play brazilian bossa nova, wouldn’t they?). and that it’s JUST music, it won’t change the world (and it won’t)…but to quote filmmaker david puttnam: “the effect of that drip, drip, drip, that daily diet of views and ideas that adhere to and promote what’s best in society — that has an effect…not one movie, not one article, not one building, but just the fact that all of us buckle down and try to do better. and be better.” amen!

and the idea being: to be a performing songwriter is a good way to live your life. eventhough at this point in our local history it’s not the most financially rewarding, performing your own material is becoming a legitimate career option. it’s an exciting time to be a performing songwriter in this country, especially with people like cynthia and jimmy opening doors. still, you have to work hard and earn your way just to get to that door, like all careers require. performing songwriters who are filipino and live here have a distinct advantage in that they know what’s going on here and can articulate it for the rest of the world through their original compositions, because the world is down for a more local approach to the global. they win their audiences because they are themselves the audience. everything and everyone is related. ang lahat ng bagay ay magkaugnay, to quote our beloved songwriter joey ayala.

i’ve thrown away the concept of performing songwriters being “self-indulgent” long ago. i believe the personal is the political, and it takes tremendous courage to wear your heart on your sleeve. you become so vulnerable, yet so powerful. let’s sing our heart out - because everyone’s heart matters! 

of course there will always be a bit of self-interest involved, because musicians do have to make a living after all, and the cafe needs its diners. but the revenue from this kind of business is so small that i wonder about its logic sometimes. people come in and order a beer, and maybe some pulutan if you’re lucky, then stay for the night! how do you earn? it’s become a cliche, but it holds a basic truth that my own life these days has proven: it’s not just about the money. you wonder about how some songs you love to listen to over and over, and that drip, drip, drip going on…and you learn about the life of these songwriters and discover such vast reserves of integrity, humility and patience, that almost bemused disregard for the bottom line not because they’re not hungry literally but because they’re not hungry for whatever is just immediately apparent. this doesn’t mean they’re impervious to weakness - some do get greedy, because (i’m guessing)  they are not assured that a steady stream of opportunity is forthcoming and will come their way again. this presupposes a lack of confidence in themselves, which most of the performing songwriters i admire thankfully do not have. they are the most ebullient, witty, kindest, most hard-working people you’ll ever meet in your life and i am proud to be in their company and i hope patrons and supporters reading this will come out of the woodwork and express their support more. listen to their own material - you might find some of it actually directly speaking to your soul, in your own language. i have and was changed enough to write mine.

Isha live @ The Shang Mall TODAY, 6 pm

hellow!

 see you all later at the shang mall, mandaluyong, 6 pm. today is march 24, 2006, friday.

 i have to keep reminding myself because time flies so fast. i actually missed a gig once because i forgot which day it was. i dressed up and went to the venue only to find it deserted. i was ONE DAY LATE!

ISHA ON TOMORROW @ 6 PM @ The Shang (NOT 7 PM AS EARLIER REPORTED)

hello everyone!

isha and the look band will be playing tomorrow (fri) march 24 at 6 pm, at the shang, not 7 pm as earlier reported.

looking forward to a nice senti friday!

ISHA live @ Shangri-la Mall, Mandaluyong, 7pm

please come to my performance on march 24, 7 pm at the shangri-la mall in mandaluyong. Candid Records calls the event “coffee, tea and jazz.” it’s one of my few public and high-profile performances, and one of my even fewer performances with my wonderfully gifted band The Look (bassist simon tan, drummer jayvee torres, and guitarist edwin vergara). i will sing songs from my “katakataka” album and some new originals i’m working on as well as some old favorites.

took part in the never again! concert for freedom on thursday march 16, organized by respected columnist conrad de quiros. i sang a beautiful bob dylan song, “with god on our side,” that i fell in love with the weekend before…hugs and kisses to cooky chua who personally invited me to perform.

i am busy with scoring and writing projects. just enough to keep me famous in the proper dosage. i know i am becoming famous because people recognize me now even if i don’t have any makeup on. it’s scary and fascinating! scary because i know i will be forgotten one day, and i have yet to meet someone who is proud to be forgotten. fascinating because strangers can actually care about a fellow stranger on the strength of one song. or one album.

thank you candid records and i.ph for this website.

isha on “game ka na ba?”

hello! i was recently invited to be a contestant on the show game ka na ba? along with various artists from a crosspromotional project. it was nerve-wracking, to say the least. the episode will air on monday, march 6,  noontime on channel 2. other artists who participated were zach and aya of imago, rye and nye of 6cyclemind, and members of brownman revival and cueshe. will write a longer and more detailed account as soon as my stomach settles but suffice to say i didn’t get to say and promote my label much, sorry allan and jinno, because i was so nervous! plus i didn’t look my best that day, having partied with my husband the night before for the successful premiere of his new film “co-ed scandal” under digital viva (i did the music for the film). well, i didn’t win anything either, but the P1000 consolation price was sufficient grocery money that night. and oh, did i say kris aquino no longer looks human? her skin is so white, and her makeup is so perfect.

ISHA

Awit Awards nominee singer/songwriter and pianist ISHA releases her first all OPM CD-lite under Candid’s sublabel ISLA. The ‘piano empress’ follow-up from her debut album ‘Time & Again’.

Her initial foray into the local music circuit was through her heart wrenching original ‘I Don’t Love You Anymore’ which served as a theme song for the movie ‘Duda’. The song was the only local track in the sequel to the highly successful CD compilation which included other foreign artists like Brian McKnight, Jewel, and Gabrielle.

Her musical career takes a full swing when she were signed up under the indie label Candid Records in 2004 together with other local artists including balladeer Enrique Marcos and jazz princess Mishka Adams. Off from her album ‘Time & Again’, her laid-back rendition of ‘Cherish’ popularized by Madonna in the 80’s has firmed up her position as the country’s ‘new wave baby’ as it zoomed to the third spot barely a few weeks of release and stayed on the top ten pop charts for four consecutive weeks. Isha has undoubtedly breakthrough the local music scene with her silky, low tones, melancholic reinterpretations and impeccable poetic originals.

Her vocal styling is often compared to foreign heavyweights including Tori Amos which the singer herself adores. ‘I love Tori Amos, and I just cant help myself in simply adoring her as a person and as a musician/singer,’ the singer confess. Isha’s originals depict literary sense and a knack for storytelling as she weaves every poignant tales to a marvelous masterpiece.

On her CD-lite, ISHA reveals the woman behind singer/songwriter as she unravels the mysteries of the ‘unconventional chanteuse’. The carrier single ‘Salisi’ was used as a theme song for the CineManila entry of Ellen Ramos and Paolo Villaluna ‘Ilusyon’ starring award winning actor Yul Servo and newcomer Jaycee Parker. The title-track folk original ‘Katakataka’ is the songwriter/singer ode to her loving husband, ace director Robert Quebral while the heartbreaking ‘At sabi Mo’ captivates the painful emotional tapestry of relationships gone bad. ‘Sayaw sa Hangin’ reveals the songwriters thirst for love and romance as profoundly expressed through its lyrics ‘alam ko nang sikreto sa pag-ibig natin – mabuhay nang wala tayong hihintayin’ (the secret behind our love for one another – to live without expecting anything).