Jose Mari Chan: 60s Music Man, Filipino Singer, Composer, Business Man, Philanthropist (Pt I)

Friday, October 29, 2010

In 1974 he was honoured with one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) titles from the Philippines. It was a Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Philippines Association Recording Industry and The Metro Pop Foundation. And it's not Freddie Aguilar.

Jose Mari Chan can be categorised as a mid-60s music man. He came into show biz in 1966 when he hosted and sang on a TV show called, 9 Teeners.

His first single Afterglow was released in 1967 and his first LP (long play vinyl) album Deep in My Heart was issued in 1969. In 1973 he represented the Philippines in the World Popular Song Festival in Tokyo with his song Can We Just Stop and Talk A While.

From 1970 to 1975, he composed more than 20 theme songs for movies and some earned him nominations at the Filipino Academy of Movie Arts and Sciences Award. He wrote commercial jingles and the well known ones were the Philippine Air Lines Love At Thirty Thousand Feet and the Alaska Milk jingle. He was also at his peak with a series of TV network specials spotlighting his lyrics and music.

Just as popular in the US, and with his degree in Economics, he moved to America and concentrated on his own business and remained there for 11 years. When he came back to the Philippines in 1986, he recorded Tell Me Your Name. This 60s musician had connected himself to the younger generation.

In 1989 he recorded, Constant Change and it was named Album of the Year by the Awit Awards (Philippines), equivalent to the American Grammy Awards. Chan is an international star and has appeared in the big cities in the US including Vegas and Carnegie Hall. He won the hearts and ears of UK and European fans and most of Asia.

Followers have found this philanthropist's love songs refreshing, captivating, heart-warming and lyrical. A Love To Last A Lifetime, Can We Stop To Talk Awhile, Afraid For Love To Fade, Deep In My Heart, Is She Thinking About Me and the 2005 South East Asian Games theme song are just some of the many compositions he penned.

I am thinking about Aguilar (Anak) and Chan... Two totally different personalities but both touched the hearts of people around the world with their hauntingly beautiful songs.

To read about Freddie Aguilar, click Labels below.

Information: Wikipedia, http://www.josemarichan.net/

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Foreign Songs Become English Hits (Part I)

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

FOREIGN SONGS BECOME ENGLISH HITS (1):

It is a well-known fact that countless 60s popular and classical music from foreign countries become English language hits in the UK, US and other parts of the world. This posting will focus on some of these classics. We start in Asia.

MANDARIN: Rose, Rose, I Love You is an English adaptation of the Mandarin song, Méigui Méigui Wǒ Ai Ni by Yao Li (1940s), the only song written by a Chinese to become a major English language chart hit.

The English lyrics were written by a British DJ, Wilfred Thomas and recorded by 50s pop singer Frankie Laine and the Norman Luboff Choir, with Paul Weston and his Orchestra in 1951. The song, with different English lyrics, was also covered in the UK by Petula Clark (1951) and by Kyu Sakamoto (1960s).

JAPANESE: The second Asian song, Sukiyaki by Kyu Sakamoto went to the top in 1963. So far, this is the only song by a Japanese singer to hit the ceiling in the U.S. The Japanese title is Ue O Muite Aruko, which means I Look Up When I Walk. It is definitely a Singaporean favourite even till today. The Blue Diamonds (Holland) recorded it with English lyrics in 1963 and personally, is one of the best versions!

FILIPINO: Another Asian pop classic, the very famous, Anak (1971) or child is a Tagalog song written and sung by Filipino folk-singer Freddie Aguilar. It has been translated to over a hundred local and international languages. The English version, by Aguilar, is a direct translation of the original and should not be missed by anyone who loves a beautiful rendition of an exceptionally sad song.

Freddie Aguilar Anak Philippino Music Influence (June 24, 2009)

Sukiyaki Kyu Sakamoto US/Japanese 60s Music (July 4, 2009)

Image: google

Information: Wikipedia Songs

Original Article: Andy Lim

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Freddie Aguilar Anak Philippino Music Influence

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

This blog usually does not discuss late 70s music but there's always an exception and this particular song is going into that territory.

Most 60s music lovers and those in the business, play this song over and over again because of its haunting melody and heart rendering tale of a parent’s love for a wayward child. It has captured the ears and hearts of many Singaporeans and to many it seems to be the only folk song that comes from this beautiful country of music, love and 7,107 islands.

The original Tagalog version that brought it international success, climbed fast to the top ten charts in Japan and Europe; over 30 million copies were sold worldwide, with more than 100 cover versions and 55 conversions in 27 languages, including English.

The singer is Freddie Aguilar, the one Asian singer and composer who broke into the western market with this unbelievably poignant song. Aguilar has been given the distinction of being the only Asian artist to achieve worldwide fame. It was such a big hit that Billboard Magazine reported it as a No. 2 on the Top 100 Hits of the World in the 80s.

Go to any nightspot in Singapore today and the song is still being played by our local artistes, sometimes in Tagalog and sometimes in English. I first heard it sung by a Filipino singer at the former Glass Hotel at Havelock Road. Have you met Anak? What about Jose Mari Chan? Click his name under Labels below.

Image/Statistics: Paragraphs 3 & 4 from Wikipedia and freddieanakaguilar.com

Article: Andy Lim

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