Shut Up & Dance retro bar opens in Malate

MANILA, Philippines - Malate continues to be the hub of the country’s nightlife scene. In the late ‘60s, the late film director Ishmael Bernal opened Gray November In My Soul along A. Mabini St. near the cor. of T. Alonso St. That generation’s artists and hippies crowded into its confines.

Down the street near the corner of Remedios St. came along Indios Bravos — a café owned and run by Betsy Romualdez Francia, a poet, together with her husband Henry Francia, a filmmaker.

Around this time, flower power bloomed, the anti-Vietnam War rallies crowded America’s streets and the youngsters of that time strummed their guitars and sang in folkhouses.

Then came the disco houses in the late ‘70s. And then in the ‘80s, Ernest Santiago opened Cocobanana along Remedios Circle with Subway disco along M. Adriatico St. catching up to accommodate the late crowd.

Twenty years later, businessman Joseph ‘Jong’ Garcia revives a retro disco bar, which he aptly calls Shut Up & Dance, which is located along M. Orosa St. cor. J. Nakpil St.

Sonny Tugade, who was a famous retro DJ in the ‘80s at Cocobanana and Subway Disco, is back manning the controls for the new bar poised to be the next big wateringhole of Malate regulars. For details, call 708-9320.