Hot chicas

If you think the Latin invasion in showbiz is over, you haven’t met Venezuela’s Barbara Clara and Italy’s Andrea Delogu. Both are as hot as their Latin dances and the heavily-seasoned pizzas of Andrea’s beloved country. So when they get together to sing Suave, a track off their album, Chicas de Contrabando, expect temperatures to rise, male hormones to surge.

Andrea and Barbara or simply Cinema 2, are in Manila for the first time to grace TV shows like Unang Hirit, Eat, Bulaga!, Startalk, Master Showman, S.O.P., Showbiz Central and Umagang Kay Ganda and perform tonight at 6 at Robinsons Galleria and tomorrow midnight at Alchemy bar. Their schedule is so packed they hardly have time to lie on their Richmonde Hotel beds these days.

Like almost all debuting foreign acts, the ladies have high expectations about their seven-day stay. Dancing and singing their way to Filipinos’ hearts is just one of them. Meeting other handsome, gentlemanly guys besides Dennis Trillo, Andrea’s co-star in Italy, is another.

“I kissed Dennis not just once, but thrice in the movie!” Andrea crows. And yes, Dennis fetched her and Barbara at the airport.

Andrea’s knowledge of the Philippines is not limited to Dennis and their movie together. She also knows something about the local music scene, having viewed Philippine Idol on her TV set at home.

Too bad the lovely ladies have no time to know more about their host county even if they’re dying to. They have to strike while the iron is hot and promote their dance album as if there’s no tomorrow. The 14-track Chicas de Contrabando, released early this year, has already given the duo three big hit singles in Italy: Suave, Estupido and Ah! Ah! Ah!

Cinema 2 (so called because they post videos on the Net week after week) has performed in Italy, the US, Spain, the Super Bowl in Mexico and France.

And they have no time to rest once they return to Italy from the Philippines. Andrea the rocker and Barbara the dancer will guest in the widely-viewed Saturday Night Live.

The duo’s success is so unexpected it has caught even Andrea and Barbara by surprise. One day, the two friends who met in a music channel in Italy seven years ago just thought of posting their video on YouTube. Before they knew it, they were getting so much feedback their e-mail was bursting at the seams with all sorts of encouraging words from all over the world.

Andrea was alternately gasping and screaming with delight when she called up Barbara to tell her the good news. One of the calls came from Viva Records, which offered to release Chicas de Contrabando in the local market and bring Cinema 2 to the country.

Now, Andrea and Barbara hope their fairy godmother will grant their wish to stay longer in Manila or come back for more gigs and shows.

The Filipino audience will decide about that in the coming days, as Cinema 2 invades TV shows and makes their hot, hot presence felt morning, noon and night.