Geneva on a sentimental journey

You can uproot Geneva Cruz from her home country, but you can never take out the singer in her. Thus, even if she lived in the US as plain and simple Geneva Miller (check out her Multiply), the former Smokey Mountain vocalist planned her comeback concert in-between ironing clothes for husband KC Montero and son Heaven, 10.

Home for a few months to work on her show, Back in Time tomorrow, May 2, at Captain’s Bar of Mandarin Hotel, and for her new album, Geneva is still her slim, perky self. But that’s only as far as appearances go. Deep within her, Geneva has changed — she believes, for the better.

Those days of fending for herself sans household help have made her more independent. And the big step forward is making a better artist out of her.

“When you grow as an artist, you also grow as a person,” she muses.

She was used to getting instructions from everyone involved in production — the musical director, the costume designer, the scriptwriter — during her pre-Seattle days with KC and his family. Not so anymore. Geneva has turned into a one-man band who takes care of every single thing — from her repertoire, to her costume changes, even to the printing of her lyrics. And this, she shows in Back in Time.

 Besides, why quarrel with the wisdom of experience? Geneva was only a little girl when she auditioned and passed Ryan Cayabyab’s high standards to make it to Smokey Mountain.

She may have come from the illustrious Cruz musical clan, but Geneva didn’t pull strings. She went through the usual audition route like everyone else did.

You can’t blame her if she looks at every single detail of her upcoming concert. For one, it is rich in sentimental value. Geneva chose to go back in time — from the ‘40s to the ‘70s — as a tribute to her great grandpa, Tirso Cruz Sr. The legendary bandmaster and orchestra leader is one of the pioneers of Manila’s jazz and big band scene since the early ‘30s. Tirso Cruz Sr. and his band were the local counterparts of Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Benny Goodman.

“I wish I met him,” sighs Geneva, thumbing wistfully at a neat stack of press clippings she lovingly researched.

She seeks solace in the fact that her great grandpa lives in her and her cousins Donna and Sunshine, among others. And Geneva knows it’s her responsibility to carry on such an illustrious, rich legacy.

It’s not easy, for one. People expect more from a Cruz more than anyone else. That’s why she’s always up on her toes as an artist.

For one, her wide-ranging repertoire for Back in Time is no walk in the park. She will swing from Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy to jazz standards like the ones she grew up with at home. It’s a radical departure from the sizzling Beyoncé Knowles, J.Lo and dance-flavored numbers audience have come to identify with her. But Geneva is unfazed.

These are the sounds of her roots. Without them, Geneva knows she won’t be who she is now. She wouldn’t have gone as far as she has, so far. So she is facing the challenge head-on, chin up.

No one can stop her from paying tribute to her family.

“Besides,” she muses, “I have always been an old soul. I’ve always loved old songs, especially from the ‘40s and the ‘50s. The lyrics are more witty, romantic and picturesque, and the fashion amazingly beautiful and classic.”

What better recourse than to take this trip down memory lane in a venue so intimate Geneva can actually go down from the stage and touch her audience?

Besides, going sexy on stage for those modern song-and-dance numbers wasn’t Geneva’s idea of a good time, after all.

“I didn’t wanna be sexy. I just wanted to be sensual,” she admits.

Now Geneva is getting just what she wants. The show’s producer, James Blanco, himself an artist, is giving Geneva free rein over everything in her show, costume and choreography included.

After she wraps up the show, Geneva continues her singing spree, this time for another nostalgia piece: An album of ‘40s to ‘60s songs.

“This might just be my final bow in the recording scene,” she says. Geneva packs her bags again for Seattle in late July to rejoin KC, Heaven and her in-laws in their spacious ranch.

She will resume her simple life of riding horses, doing household chores (look ma, no more burning of clothes while ironing them!). This time, Geneva wants a little difference. She’s raring to get a degree in interior design in two years. Yes, she happily reports, the two years she spent as a Communication Arts student in UST didn’t go to waste. The college she wants to enroll in back in the US is crediting many of the subjects.

In between being a soccer mom to her athletic pre-teener, Geneva also wants to take an English writing course. It’s a brave new world out there waiting for her.

“Singing in a Seattle lounge would also be nice,” she muses.

What can you expect? She’s a Cruz, and she’ll always remain one — whether she’s in the US or in any other part of the world.