The return of the Music & Magic band

People who meet Fe de los Reyes for the first time are amazed by her energy and ability to switch from funny girl to Broadway singer, prance across the stage, then break into choreographed dance, all without missing a beat. From a professional career in 1979 as member of the Music & Magic band, she moved around the Asian circuit, then North America, then turned solo with the world as her audience.

Jet Montelibano, on the other hand, had been vocalist of the Music & Magic band, helping conceptualize the group’s concert shows in Manila and abroad for which he has won a number of citations and awards. Jet was also connected with the production house Classified Entertainment where he learned to direct shows involving artists, the biggest name being Gary Valenciano. He trained under director Peque Gallaga, and got involved in all branches of the performing arts like television, theater and film.

These are only two members of the group that was known to be the leading band in the ’70s. Not many know or will remember that the Music & Magic band started with Kuh Ledesma, initially a nurse in Bacolod until she decided she would rather pursue a career in music. She joined the Ensalada Band with Toto Gentica and Jet, also from Bacolod, after which the trio went to Manila and formed the Music & Magic band.

But Kuh, being the adventurous person that she is, was not content with band singing. She decided to go solo and has been performing for the past 35 years in the music industry, which all together encompasses more than 1,000 concerts all over the world, numerous awards in the Philippines and 20 albums in the Philippine recording industry. She was the first Filipino singer to have been awarded the Salem Music Award in London in 1989. In 1997, she released her international debut album Precious in collaboration with Filipino and American songwriters, arrangers and musicians. She eventually went solo with Dito Ba? as her first hit recording.

If people would expect Kuh to rest after all her achievements during the past decades, they are grossly mistaken. Kuh discovered the art of acting before the cameras, or better yet, the cameras discovered her. For Kuh is not only a great singer, she is also a beautiful singer, the type photographers love to take pictures of. Try looking for the many pictures of Kuh that have appeared on various publications through the years. You will see how the camera caresses her, loves her face, it’s a wonder why she has not been given many endorsements. Latest involvement for Kuh is entering the world of the teleserye through My Destiny after My Husband’s Lover.

Thursday last week, we decided to pay a visit to Strumms, our favorite watering place in Makati. We would go there principally to watch the performance of the show band The Authority under the leadership of good friend Juan Miguel Salvador. We also know that the show band alternating with The Authority is called Route Seventy, which used to be part of Music & Magic. After watching them, we cornered the two former Music & Magic members Butch Elizalde and Jet and asked them a few questions.

According to Jet, Music & Magic started in 1979 when he was still in high school jamming with drummer Nonoy Mendoza and also with Hector Pedero. “Then we went to college, heard they had started forming the Music & Magic band. Kuh was then performing at the Playboy Club. It was then that we decided to try out their luck in Manila.”

The group never thought the band would grow that popular. Guitarist Jet reminisced, “The difference in comparing our band with the others is that we were more theatrical in treating every song like a production number.” The group started to peak around the end of the ’70s until 1986, Jet recalled, after which Kuh joined the Rama Hari, then went solo with the rest continuing the Music & Magic band.

“I’m very excited for the reunion, since we haven’t done this in such a long time. Our last big reunion was in 1988, celebrating the opening of the Music Museum in San Juan,” Jet continued.  

 Another former member of the Music & Magic is now the bass player for Route Seventy. This was what Butch shared, “I am very happy about the reunion. I really look forward to seeing my former band mates, especially the ones who live abroad. Music & Magic was my first professional band. It opened the door to the musical world. It also was a learning process for me as I never had formal training in music. It was like unlocking different doors for me.” 

Getting to travel and perform abroad was one of the best parts of being with the band, Bobby Taylo mused. “We are still in touch with each other, especially now with the help of the Internet. We were like family then and now. Maybe respect for each other is the reason we are still friends right now.”

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