Like many other events of this year, Venus retrograde is not likely to be all flowers, rainbows, and butterflies. When any planet goes retrograde, we're invited to slow down and take a closer look.
I’m not an astrologer but it’s common knowledge that planetary retrogrades have an impact on communication and leave most feeling frustrated and adrift.
Thus, it no longer surprises people when actor JM de Guzman posted something like this on social media: “My next relationship will be my last, so I’m not looking, I’m not worried, I’m not rushing. I want this love to find me, learn me, want me, need me, and love me in slow motion, we have forever to go.”
A perfect sampling of Venus retrograde effect, do you agree?
Another instance of this retrograde manifesting, soprano Lara Maigue and cellist Giancarlo Gonzales, celebrate their seven-year-old relationship with a divine artistic collaboration, Ennio Morricone’s EPiu, Ti Penso, a bittersweet romantic aria that says: “And the more I think of you, the more I miss you.” Can these two lovebirds just marry the soonest?”
Carrying on with the effects of Venus, Arman Ferrer nailed it again with Ryan Cayabyab’s “Sometime, Somewhere” which he did for Light Up: A Philippine International AIDS Memorial Ceremony 2020, the anthem specially arranged by Marvin Querido.
Adjectives like “glorious” and “sublime” are perfect to describe the rendition of Ferrer with song originally interpreted by the great Basil Valdez. Every time Ferrer sings this Cayabyab classic, my thought balloon: “This song deserves to be a full length musical of the BL kind.
Venus, which is also associated with the “true, good and beautiful” has obviously divided the house with regard to Ang Huling El Bimbo. Despite the musical being viewed by more than seven-million, you either loved it to high heavens or hated it with the right doses of rage. I just hope that its teledrama rendition and too melodramatic narrative won’t be repeated in the forthcoming Bongga Ka Day!, the musical with the iconic ditties of the Hotdogs weaved to make this extravaganza.
What most appreciated, especially those who heard it for the first time, are the songs from Alikabok, particularly the numbers “Isang Araw Bawat Taon” and “May Isang Pag-Ibig.” Produced by Mesdames Celeste Legaspi and Girlie Rodis, with its music by Maestro Ryan Cayabyab and lyrics by Noel Balcemada.
Now we go to another kind of love, this time for our Pilipinas nating mahal, which is of course a truly noble cause and undertaking. Let us give a round of applause to the Ateneo Chamber Singers, together with the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra, who paired together in their presentation of Maestro Cayabyab’s “O Bayan Ko” for the “Bayan Ko: Sulong Na” project that they initiated. Please take time to view its video and listen to the song. Coming together in this time of the COVID-19 pandemic, not only to saves ourselves and loved ones, but our beloved country as well is imperative.
And of course, the biggest musical surprise for this week, the Roman goddess of love has surely smiled at her, Kim Chiu’s “Bawal Lumabas: The Classroom Song” is making a killing.
With almost three million YouTube views and growing exponentially every hour, those who had the energy to lambast, malign and ridicule the ABSCBN star are scratching their heads in disbelief as Kim was able to turn around her precarious situation. Her team, and she included, of course, are now laughing their way to their banks. A negative predicament transformed into a positive and income generating LSS-inducing song. Take a bow, you people.
Being in this Venus retrograde phase, let us celebrate the reality that the greatest force in the Universe is love. And yes, we are one in embracing its many forms – artistic, erotic, romantic platonic and patriotic.