OJ Mariano: Once more with feeling

Imagine yourself back to a simpler time when dear old dad was still around to comfort you, stand by you, make you feel safe and secure. Hard?

Try this: Turn on the CD player, cue in the track Dance with My Father from OJ Mariano’s second album Ballads.  You feel like you’re on a magic carpet ride back to your childhood when life was simpler and oh-so-easy.

That’s the feeling you get when you hear this Star in a Million second runner-up croon his haunting songs. They take you to another place and time, when you need not think, when emotions  ruled the day for all you care.

Blame it on a life in which music held sway since Day One.  OJ’s parents are band members, and a sister carries a tune just as well. The family is so wrapped up in music everyone hears  Beatles and Rolling Stones songs the minute he or she wakes up.

It didn’t come as a surprise therefore, when OJ sang with the choir in high school and ended up enrolling at the UP College of Music soon after.

Showbiz interrupted OJ’s studies.  Today, he shuttles in-between gigs. One night, OJ is performing at the Sky Lounge of Diamond Hotel. The next night, he’s on stage at the Metro Phi Restobar.  The night after, he’s serenading music lovers at the Dusit Hotel’s Fiesta San Miguel.

All throughout, one thing stands out: OJ’s penchant for crooning ballads and connecting with his audience.

“The emotions are more intense; audience feedback is better,” he reasons out.

Not that he can’t sing, say jazz, new wave and other genres one finds in the musical landscape.  OJ can.

It’s just that ballads have a way of drawing out the best from this Awit awardee for Best New Male Recording Artist (2006).

Peabo Bryson’s classic If Ever You’re In My Arms Again, for instance, the album’s carrier single, holds an irresistible pull for OJ.

“Every time I sing this song,” he explains, “the audience ends up singing with me till the end.”

OJ is especially flattered that Ryan Cayabyab allowed him to include the songwriter’s unrecorded composition, Iniibig Kita, in the album. OJ fell in love with the romantic song the first time he heard it from the San Miguel Master Chorale and Orchestra.

“It’s tremendous honor,” OJ gushes.  “I think it has yet to be recorded by a solo artist so I was happy to have it in the album.”

OJ’s favorite track, though, is his take on Luther Vandross’ Dance With My Father.

It speaks volumes about OJ’s sentimental side, the side that values family as the wellspring of all inspiration.

“The song talks about a child’s wish for his mom to have a last chance at dancing with his late dad,” relates OJ.

If OJ feels so strongly about the song, it’s because he himself has a family from whom he draws much of his strength. They are behind him in producing Ballads, which is why OJ has the luxury of choosing  which songs to include or exclude in the CD.

And because he calls the shots as executive producer (with Dennis Arce), OJ admits he chose to revive George Benson’s In Your Eyes, not just because he loves it.  He also wants to dedicate it to ehem, Toni Gonzaga.

“I admire the way she sings, the way she carries herself,” he explains.  And he doesn’t mind that Toni is already taken, thanks to director Paul Soriano.  OJ can always admire her from a distance.

Besides, OJ can always concentrate on other things. He can go on pushing efforts to protect the environment, like the Sweepers’ Brigade Project (under Quezon City’s Environmental Protection Program), to which part of the album sales will be channeled.

Thus,  OJ is leaving no stone unturned to promote his album. Aside from TV guestings and appearances, OJ is embarking on a series of tours at SM Supermalls.  First stop is SM North EDSA on March 28.  This will be followed by SM Baguio on March 29; SM Marilao on April 5 and SM Pampanga on April 6. OJ hopes to promote Ballads at the SM Supermalls in Visayas and Mindanao in May and June.