What a TREAT! DeltaSlim TXTd this morning regarding this feature below.
From Philippine Star Jan 14, 2007
By Tinnie P. Esguerra
The Philippine Star 01/14/2007
The blues scene is alive and well in Manila, as evinced by the burgeoning crowds and familiar faces at such haunts as Conspiracy Bar, Mag:Net, 70s Bistro and Handlebar.
On a typical blues night, expect some searing vocals, a deluge of stinging, overdriven guitar solos and the haunting strains from an old, rusty blues harp bobbing over a slow shuffle. It’s uncontrived blues at its best – raw, pungent and straight to the point.
It’s those same chilling cries of torment and anguish echoed by the fabled blues legends of yore: Robert Johnson, Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, and by more recent guitar heroes such as B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and John Mayer.
But while the local blues mafia has pledged its allegiance and reverence to the immortal classics, it has also spurred the growth of a derivative idiom imbued with Pinoy wit and irreverence.
The new blues movement is chronicled in Rebolusyon Rekords’ latest effort called Blueskrieg: Original Pilipino Blues Music. The album features compositions from five relatively-new Pinoy blues bands, namely: Plug (Tumbling Down The Devil’s Game, Byahero, Blooze); Snakecharmer (Zalman Knew, My Slow Draggin’ Week, Suklob); Firebottle (Bakit Nagkaganito, Di Na Lang Sana, Kalbaryo); Dahon (Confronting the Evil, Monster Within Me, Lipad Pilip Lipad); and Kulukati (Sa Gabi Sa Umaga, Selda Katorse, Taga Sa Bato).
The album was conceptualized by Joric Maglanque and Gerry Diwa, both competent blues musicians and prime movers in the current blues scene. Joric, also known in Philmusic.com’s Guitar Central forum as “deltaslim,” is acclaimed as one of the finest slide players in the circuit – and maybe one of the busiest. Aside from his current bands Firebottle and Soul Benders, he also does smaller-scale duo or trio gigs.
Gerry, on the other hand, recently set up his own recording studio (Sound Weavers) and record production outfit (Rebolusyon Rekords).
“Gerry, an old band-mate of mine, used the term Blueskrieg for a blues production gig back in the ‘90s, as part of the Rakrakan concerts he produced,” Joric explains. “As I turned him on to the blues-influenced groups mushrooming these days and he saw how vibrant the scene was, the entrepreneur in him kicked in and thought he should produce an album of new Pinoy blues.”
He adds, “The main idea is to present new bands with new blues music never heard in years, perhaps since Lampano Alley’s excellent but only album. Blietzkrieg is a German military tactic of surprise attack, usually on many or unexpected fronts.
Blueskrieg is a surprise attack of Pinoy blues from various styles and bands with variegated styles and influences.”
Click here to read the entire text of Blueskrieg: The Fellowship of the String by Tinnie P. Esguerra
Blues music sprung from the hopes and despair of the black people when, enslaved, they closed their eyes and let it all out, and the music transformed their soul into the stuff of musical legends. So I gathered from my talk with the 5-man blues-rock band Plug in front of 6Underground on C. Palanca Street in Makati as they killed time with me right before a gig.
