A project for heroes

MANILA, Philippines - “There’s a hero inside of us.” That at least, is what Mike Chan and his friends in the music industry are hoping to prove when they launch The Heroes Project on May 28 at The Annex of SM North Edsa. “The project is a campaign for positive values and actions, and we are reaching out to everyone specially the youth.”

They will use music as a way to spread a message they all believe in. “Every day we get the chance to do something good for others,” says Mike. “It doesn’t take great acts of heroism to make a difference in people’s lives, including one’s own. If we all make an effort to practice small acts of kindness towards others every day, then we’re doing our part in changing, for the better, the way we relate to one another. Hopefully good things can start from there.”

The idea for Heroes actually began late last year at the tail end of 2009.

“Because of the type of music that I do (pop rock), I mostly get to play for young people and when I look at them, I literally see pure potential.” Says Mike, “Most of them don’t realize it yet but they can be anything they choose to be in this life. It’s really important at this stage to make them aware of this fact and to provide positive directions for them to follow.” Mike believes that today’s youth are ready to step up and do their part. “We just have to ask them to.”

Joining Mike are Nyoy Volante, Princess Velasco, Sofia, Top Suzara, Noelle Cassandra, Loyd Zaragoza, 2009 Female R&B Artist Of The Year Amber, producer and R&B singer Marcus Davis and Kenyo. According to Mike, most of these artists support advocacies that champion education, literacy, women’s rights and other worthy causes. “I invited these artists because I just knew them to be good people with something other than their extraordinary talents to share. True enough, when I asked them to lend their services for the launch, they all said yes immediately.”

Also doing their part for the heroes advocacy are Miss Earth winners who will do an environmentally themed mini-fashion show to raise awareness for the protection of our planet. “You can be a hero to the environment as well,” says Cathy Untalan of Miss Earth Foundation.

For this project, Mike has released a song called Heroes, a remake of the Wallflowers hit, and is releasing it digitally with part of the proceeds going into a fund for the education of the underprivileged. To download the song, type Heroes and send to 3456.

Catch Mike perform with his band guitarist extraordinaire Francis Manalo, US-based bassist Aram Puzon and drummer Lance Abellon together with different Heroes artists on different stops of their SM Super Mall tour which includes SM Clark on June 11; SM Baguio, June 13; SM Marikina, June 18; SM Dasmariñas, June 19; SM Bicutan, June 26; SM Fairview, June 27; SM Bacoor, July 3; and the grand culminating concert on July 9 at the SM Mega Mall. All shows are free.

“We’re grateful to Sm Supermalls for the level of support they are extending to this project. Their management team has been accommodating and it’s heartening to see that they believe in the project so much.”

Other media partners include Star World, Fox Channels, Channel V and Discovery Channel. 

For details, e-mail at [email protected].