Keeping up with changing times

MANILA, Philippines - Some musical artists, regardless of status, had to give in to the changing times to keep their cause in tune. Here are newsbits creating that picture note for note.

Paolo Santos dubbed King of Acoustic admitted having made the mistake of being a snob to the TV press during his heyday in the music scene. During the launch of his latest album from Ivory Music titled How Sweet It Is Paolo Santos, he told the scribes, “Ayaw ko ng media dati. Hindi ako at home when being interviewed by TV reporters kasi pakiramdam ko their questions tend to be rather basically intriguing and mostly not about music or anything I am interested about.”

Now promoting his album that pays homage to his idol James Taylor, Paolo cited he already matured as a person and realized the power of being exposed by media, more so considering that his career had somewhat been affected by his lack of TV exposure the past years. “Akala ko noon by turning down TV interviews or guestings I was protecting my craft kasi there’s this thinking I had that you could end up being a sellout by giving in to all of them. Now I realize that I need to be heard and be exposed to as many people as possible. TV and other forms of media can help me make that happen.”

Aiza Seguerra: ‘Truth is, singers need television. If you’re not on TV, you won’t sell.’

Paolo’s 14-song album boasts its carrier single Only One and album tracks like Fire and Rain, Wandering, You’ve Got A Friend and the title track.          

His legendary status put into consideration, balladeer Basil Valdez may not deserve doing a performance minus the talent fee or honorarium at least. It’s in the same vein as to why the late Fernando Poe Jr. did not ever show up on TV to promote his well-followed movies many years back.

But wait, it’s 2012. Selling CDs is more difficult than ever and artists in one way or another should do everything to promote their latest material. So, the golden voice of Basil gives in to a couple of shows to encourage music fans to buy his new CD Basil S. Valdez which features his renditions of not-so-old classics.

The singer behind OPM standards like Hindi Kita Malilimutan and You will have a show tomorrow, March 3, 7 p.m. at Venice Piazza (McKinley Road). 

According to Vicor Music which releases the said album, doing mall shows is the singer’s first-ever of such kind. When asked of the approach he dealt with while recording songs that include his latest single Kanlungan, Basil pointed out, “I had to change the phrasing of some of the songs to make them sound more natural.”

Aiza Seguerra, the singing guitarist who started off as a contestant on Eat, Bulaga!’s Little Miss Philippines, is celebrating her 25th year in showbiz with a solo concert of big magnitude. Preferring to perform at intimate venues, she said, “I don’t want to do Araneta kasi pressure pa ‘yun. Mahirap mag-perform kung walang tao.”

Paolo Santos says he already matured as a person and realized the power of media

Yet, it seems that the plan, bound to involve an orchestra, is pushing through in September. Insiders are expecting a heavy turnout considering Aiza’s continuing popularity and good reputation as a live act backed-up by constant TV exposure via ABS-CBN’s ASAP. The Star Records’ act credits her success to her attitude towards professional work, saying she simply enjoys everything coming along without making serious plans prone to becoming failure.

Her latest album, a compilation of her previous recordings, some of them had undeservingly gone unnoticed, is called Songs From The Vault, with lead single Sana Di Lang Puro Sana placed as its 13th track. Some other strong numbers are Sukob Na, Runaway, Tanging Ikaw and Miss You Like Crazy.      

Aiza said something surely of significance to fellow acoustic act Paolo Santos: “Truth is, singers need television. If you’re not on TV, you won’t sell.”