If you have been born in the 50s or the 60s, I am pretty sure (as Gladys Reyes’ Amanda in I Will Always Love You says when emphasizing something) your hearts skip a beat when you hear Darius Razon’s “Everybody Knows” or Anthony Castelo’s “Hahanapin Ko’ or even Eva Vivar’s “No Other Love Have I.”
Those tunes certainly bring back memories of your teenage years back where you grew up. Those songs are still very much around. So are the singers.
And starting this Sunday, 8:00 p.m., they – Anthony Castelo, Darius Razon, and Eva Vivar – will host a TV show on Net 25 called Young Once (Upon A Time).
The three popular singers of a bygone era made a manifestation that they are still very much around at a gathering at Net 25’s studio at the Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s complex on Central Avenue near Visayas Avenue in Quezon City.
According to Weng de la Fuente, president of Net 25, Young Once aims to promote original Pilipino music (OPM). It is also a tribute to great Filipino songwriters and a showcase of the best singers in the country.
Razon, Vivar, and Castelo are hoping their fans will support the show and the new generation will have an interest in finding out what their parents and grandparents listened to when they were younger.
“It should acquaint the millennials with the music of the past apart from a show for a generation that saw the best of Philippine music fro the 60s to the 90s,” chimed the three hosts who rendered their most popular songs during the gathering along with guests Zander Khan, Efren Montes, Cynthia Garcia.
The list of guests for the show’s first season is veritably the who’s who in OPM for three decades: Pilita Corrales, Mike Hanopol, Heber Bartolome, Jun Polistico, Noel Cabangon, Claire de la Fuente, Imelda Papin, Eva Eugenio, Pinky Marquez, Malu Barry, Lolita Carbon of Asin, Coritha, Bayang Barrios, Marco Sison, Chad Borja, Richard Reynoso, Joey Abando of Boyfriends, Alon, Renz Verano, Perla Adea, Romy Mallari, Tessie Lagman, Dolly Favorito, Raquel Monteza, Danny Cruz, the Mabuhay Singers, and Victor Wood.
Regrettably, the superstar of the all, Nora Aunor, whose voice was damaged during a procedure, will not be able to join the show, even as a guest, unless she lipsynchs her songs, but that’s not the aim of the show.
Pilita Corrales, known during her time as Asia’s Queen of Songs, said, “This is long overdue. Finally, there is a show like this…na talagang OPM.”
The Young Once will take you back to those days when life was easy or even when it was harder for some, music had a way of easing up things.
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Philippine film’s mother turns 80
Her entrance to the ballroom of Crowne Plaza Galleria smacks of show business. In a white glittery gown, she sashayed with a bevy of dancing cohorts towards a stage passing along well-suited gentlemen and ladies in evening gowns as well, including former First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos and former President Joseph Estrada and his son Jinggoy.
Striding to the beat of Abba’s “Mamma Mia,” Lily Yu Monteverde, or Mother for short, marked her 80th birthday not just with a big bang but with an explosion of songs, guests of all persuasion and political color, and stars from rival networks.
It is perhaps the birthday party of all birthday parties.
Speaking on stage to her guests, she said, “I always tell people I am rich. But they do not know what I mean. I am rich not because of the things I own or can buy. I am rich because God has made my life so full.”
And in conclusion, she said, “More important I am not only rich. I am happy.”
Happy 80th Mother. We wish you more years with the industry that you love so dearly! Thank you Mother.
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It’s goodbye to Enrique and Liza’s Bagani
On a personal note, I feel sad when I saw the end of Bagani on ABS-CBN Friday last week.
The heroes of Sansinukob in this costume series fought evil to protect their home from destruction. The love team of Enrique Gil as Lakas and Liza Soberano as Maganda make for a charming couple on screen.
Bagani was well received by viewers since it premiered. It received an all-time high national TV rating of 36.2 percent on April 17, according to data from Kantar Media.
The show has also won the hearts of netizens with its hashtags trending all over the world on Twitter. It was also named as one of the most talked about teleseryes in the country in the first half of 2018, according to the Twitter Entertainment Index, a list of the most talked about topics on the social networking site.
Its online version, Bagani World, gave users the chance to be heroes of a digital Sansinukob. The website was closed after the show bid farewell. However, its stories will continue in Bagani: Beyond Sansinukob on NoInk, ABS-CBN’s online reading platform.
There are no buzz when the Kapamilya will have another series with the handsome love team of LizQuen.
We will wait.