Jaco's turn

Ako Naman is the title of Jaco Benin’s first album release. That is Filipino for it’s my turn, and it is indeed his turn. Jaco is the 21-year-old son of Joey Benin, the songwriter, arranger, guitarist and vocalist of the famous band, Side A. But after over 30 years in the limelight Joey is now retired. He continues to write songs and may come out to produce a record once in a while as he does for Jaco’s CD. But most of his time is spent being a gentleman farmer in Negros. And so it is now time for Jaco to take his turn.

It is just as well that Jaco chose to enter show business at this time. Side A is a hard act to follow. It must be the most successful show band in Philippine pop music history. Although it will be unfair, people familiar with the group will not be able to resist comparing him to his Dad. He will be expected to make a lot of hits because that was what Side A did and still does. Think Hold On, Set You Free, So Many Questions, etc. Joey wrote some of them like Forevermore and Eva Marie. He also composed for other artists like I Believe In Dreams for Janno Gibbs. Fans would want to find out if Jaco could do the same.

Of course, the association with Side A can also be an advantage, more so because, Jaco’s approach to his career is totally different from Joey’s. He is a solo act and given his wholesome good looks, he is certainly pop idol material. Even his music is different. It is light pop rock leaning towards boy band sounds. While this is not uncommon among young male singers, Jaco’s asset is that thanks to Joey’s influence, he is also a guitarist and arranger.

Ako Naman has six cuts, all of them cute and funny and obviously aimed at young female buyers. Three of these are new songs, Salamin and Luningning by Arnie Mendaros and Sa Aking Alaala by Francis Louis Salazar. The rest are covers of Pinoy rock hits and they come out very strong in their new pop arrangements. These are Teeth’s Princesa by Darwin Hernandez, Sa Puso Ko by Francis Guevarra originally recorded by True Faith and the first single, Torete, composed by Jerome Velasco, Robert Javier, Michael Dizon and Glenn Jacinto that became a big hit for Moonstar 88.

The talented Jaco has a bright singing style that fans like in pop idols. He plays the guitars in Luningning, Salamin and Torete, which he also arranged. He takes on the acoustic bass for Princesa, which is also the only song that his Dad, Joey arranged. He did his duties well and maybe the next CD will see some original songs composed by Jaco Benin. Also for the fans, the album comes with five post cards of Jaco in different poses, each of them autographed and featuring the lyrics of a song.

For those who want to have these autographed in person by Jaco, you can catch him in his Ako Naman mall tour on May 14 at Robinsons Novaliches. If you can’t go to the mall then you will find Jaco in the Full Circle and Acoustic Republic portions of ASAP Rocks, the Sunday noontime variety show of ABS-CBN. You can also visit him on Facebook, http://www.facebook.com/officialjacobenin; follow him on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JACO BENIN or at his website: http://www.cornerstonetalents.net/jaco-benin.

Still on young talents, future ones, that is. Now on its second year, Musikabataan, the scholarship program for vocal performance sponsored by the Music Museum Group in cooperation with The Music School of Ryan Cayabyab is looking for its new set of scholars.

Those who are interested should bring a 2X2 photograph and their birth certificate and prepare to sing one song a capella. That means without accompaniment so music minus ones are not required. Call 637-9840 or 914-5055 for inquiries.