Mike Chan makes a change for the better

MANILA, Philippines - Life has been good to rock balladeer Mike Chan. For a man whose passion is making music, 2010 cannot be off to a better start. With a new album out under Sony Music Philippines, a regular TV show (The Sabado Boys) and a weekly radio show, it seems like the good life just keeps getting better. The only thing left to do now according to Mike is to start giving back.

“I consider myself incredibly lucky to be able to make a good living off of music” says the singer, “part of the reason why this is even possible is because I had parents who were able to send me to excellent private schools where music education is available to all the students.”

Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for the majority of Filipino children in this country, where proper music lessons are inaccessible to underprivileged kids. Due to lack of funding for proper music facilities and instruments, music classes in most public schools are rudimentary at best. Assuming they’re being taught at all.

“It’s a terrible shame considering that music comes naturally to most Filipinos. I’ve worked with some really talented foreign music producers and they’re amazed at the level of the musicality here in this country.”

This is where Mike hopes to make a change for the better.

Together with Fern C, Shine Music School and the Rotary Club District 3780, Mike’s plan is to recruit people from the music industry to volunteer one hour of their time each month to teaching music to kids in different public schools. Along the way they also plan to raise funds to buy quality used musical instruments to donate to these schools.

Over the past year and a half, Mike has been volunteering in different organizations with similar goals and feels that this time he should be doing more. “I really wanted to wait until I was famous before I started this project so that nobody would accuse me of doing this for publicity,” Mike jokes, “but seriously, with all the blessings I continually receive, it just isn’t right that I’m not doing more to try and give something back.”

Part of the proceeds from the sales of his new album Mike Chan, Again But Louder under Sony Music will go to several foundations with similar goals of bettering children’s lives through music and education.

Mike will launch the project on a nationwide campus and mall tour presented by SM Supermalls and Fern C.

“I’m very grateful to the people of Fern C for believing in this cause so much so that they have agreed not only to support my tours but also to donate a percentage of their sales in these tours to our project,” says Mike.

Catch Mike on Jan. 22 at SM Marikina; Feb. 5, SM Megamall; Feb. 5, Holy Spirit; Feb. 7, SM Baguio; Feb. 8, UP Diliman; Feb. 12, Philippine Women’s University; Feb. 19, SM Rosario; Feb. 20, SM Marilao; and Feb. 27, SM Dasmariñas.

Musicians interested in volunteering their time can reach Mike at [email protected].