Filipino band cherishes every moment at ‘reunion concert’

Mariecar Jara-Puyod, Senior Reporter

Rico Blanco, Bamboo Manalac, Mark Escueta and Nathan Azarcon -Big names in the Phiippines’s musiclandia when their Rivermaya of a band began captivating and let loose not only their equally conyo (uppercrust) colegiala English (a good interplay of Filipino and English words with that twang only them could blurt out) and English-speaking audience, but also the jeepney and tricycle-riding masses since the mid-1990s.

“I did not expect this to happen. When I got a call; like Wow! I can’t believe it is happening. We’ve been together since we were kids. They are the ones I grew up with and I love them,” admitted bassist Azarcon.

“It is the people around you who must take the credit. These people who keep your feet firmly on the ground; who keeps you checked,” said lead vocalist Manalac, more famously known by his mononym Bamboo.

“It feels like a dream. I say this all the time. If you ask me this two years back ago, I would not have this in my cards; that it would not happen. But it did. When it did, it felt right and everything felt right and whenever we are onstage, it feels like a dream.

Night after night. It is something that won’t be forever. So we are cherishing each opportunity. I cherish everything I have with these guys,” claimed keyboardist and lead vocalist Blanco.

“It is not really learning something new about each of us. This is more the affirmation of what we love to do. Writing songs. Performing. Even if we are a little older now than when we started. The exact same fire that we exuded years back is still there.

The early 1990s. The outpouring emotion and thrill. The suppressed and hidden snickers for the blunders while we are all onstage. Musicians would always be musicians. Music keeps us forever young,” answered co-lead vocalist/percussionist-drummer/guitarist Mark Escueta.

Azarcon, Bamboo, Blanco, and Escueta are in the UAE since early this week.

The original Rivermaya - among the several rock-driven-themed bands - two decades since the birth of the Original Pilipino Music in the 1970s which was a welcome breather from the colonial mentality of the Americanised Filipinos since the 1940s - are on the last leg of their “reunion concert” formally titled as “The Reunion Concert World Tour 2025” of the international Live Nation, set at the Coca-Cola Arena on Feb.9 (Sunday).

These guys, between the ages of 17 and 21 a generation ago, when their debut single “Ulan,” still enraptured and never failed to elucidate that kilig factor even from the media and content creators - either of their age or even a decade older than them on Tuesday.

Either in straight English or straight Filipino or a combination of these two widely-spoken languages in their home country, their musical pieces are well-written which makes it more powerful with the tune and rhythm of their alternative rock music.

Meanwhile, “Ulan” which eventually was critically-acclaimed, hit the charts and paved greater heights for the quartet because of its metaphorical melody of the rippling unpredictable rain that causes one to both dance and be a loony at the same time - according to the Tagalog lyrics.

Surprised and humbled by efforts of the Live Nation for their world tour which commenced on Feb.17, 2024 in their home country of the Philippines then onwards to the USA and Canada on Sept.8 and Oct.6, 2024 respectively, Bamboo, in reply to the question that many overseas Filipinos grew up with their brand of music which also made them be heavily recognised and accepted by way of awards, stated: “That’s the point. That’s why we are here. We’re very much aware of that. We are here as our way to say thank you. We have to perform here. I am happy that all four of us are here onstage, ready to play this Sunday.”

It has been Azarcon and Escueta as the Rivermaya mainstays. Bamboo and Blanco have become independent performers. In 1996, their first award was from the “NU Rock Awards” in the Philippines that named their soulful yet swingy “HImala,” about a person asking whether it is sinful to plead for a miracle (himala) because hope has become hopeless truth on Earth, as the “Song of the Year.”