(MENAFN- Khaleej Times) Kristine Abante speaks to iconic Filipino band Rivermaya who were recently in Dubai.
A week after their hugely successful Dubai concert the Philippines’s ‘Banda ng Bayan’ Rivermaya was invited back in town to be among the judges for the recently concluded Battle of the Bands held at the Al Ghurair center.
Rivermaya founding member Mark Escueta joined Dia Hassan lead vocalist of Juliana Down and Musician’s Warehouse Founder Grand Collins at the panel of judges for the annual competition that gathered the country’s most talented amateur and up-and-coming performers.
With 20 years of experience under their belt the legendary OPM band got a good dose of the growing local music scene in the UAE at the competition saying they were quite overwhelmed by the amount of talent that they saw over the weekend.
“There were some 28 finalists that we saw over the course of 2 days 14 of them each night and from there we drew the final top 10. I was impressed with the diversity of talent there were rock bands cover bands even breakdancers and a good number of Filipino bands. It was not an easy task” shares Mark Escueta.
Guitarist Mike Elgar meanwhile commented on musicality of the bands and how it is not surprising to find a lot of Filipinos playing in them. “Obviously dala ng pinoy yung hilig sa music (Filipinos carry their love of music everywhere) and its good to see that out here they are among the pioneers. Maybe the only thing that’s holding them back is finding the time to practice.”
Drummer Ryan Peralta echoes this sentiment saying that its great to see the passion and drive from all the bands but like any skill to improve on your craft you need to keep playing. “There is no manual or instructions on how to be good the more you play the more you will discover your own groove or signature style so you just gotta keep at it” Peralta adds.
Bassist Norby David on his part couldn’t help but notice the great quality of production at this year’s Battle of the Bands. “The set up that they have here in Al Ghurair is very impressive the stage the lights and sound equipment are all top-of-the-line and they (musicians in Dubai) are very lucky to have access to all this but of course the tools or technology only enhances your skill you still have to learn the basics” says David.
Asked what keeps them going through all the years Mark shares that “the trick is to find your fulfillment whether its doing covers or writing original songs whatever makes you happy. For us it’s the joy of playing with each other on stage that has kept the band together and that we never forget where we came from.”
As for their definition of a rockstar Norby speaks for the group saying that in the Philippines there seem to be a negative connotation equating rockstar with being a “diva” but actually “rockstar” is a positive word.
Excellence is what it takes to be a rockstar Escueta adds.
Now in its second year the AGC Battle of the Bands saw some excellent performances from across different genres from funk to alternative rock hiphop headbanging metal and glam covers - the bands pulled out all the stops to be at par with the judges’ and audience’ expectations. Over 5000 music lovers young and old came to see the show as word quickly spread about the three-day festival.
Carl and the Reda Mafia took home the coveted top spot while cover band Nightlife came in second and representatives of Metal music – Gates of Gomorrah came in third. Carl and the Reda Mafia have won thousands of dirhams worth of prizes musical equipment studio recording time a chance to hear their song played on local radio station including a mentorship session with Rivermaya.
Besides judging and mentoring Rivermaya also completed a music video shoot in Dubai for their latest single Nasasayo featuring the award-winning rapper Gloc 9. The video for the fourth single off their album Panatang Makabanda was shot entirely in the UAE by a local all-Filipino film crew led by renowned UAE-based director Patrick Foronda and Cinematographer Jruzz Merca. The video will be part of the bonus DVD soon to be released as an inclusion to the special CD+DVD repack of their latest album.