My So-Called Guitar Life: June 2010

Sunday, June 27, 2010

What is inside these spring rolls?

Bamboo shoots ;-)

Saturday, June 26, 2010

TUTTI GUITARRI TONIGHT!!! PLEASE COME. =)

Filfest Cultural Foundation continues Season 3 Ensembles of Eight with Tutti Guitarri, a concert of 8 guitarists led by the Kasilag Guitar Trio and the Filfest Guitar Ensemble at the Insular Life Corporate Center auditorium, Insular Life Building Alabang on Saturday, June 26, 8pm. Tickets @ P800 & P400 with 50% discount for students & 20% for seniors & subscribers. For tickets call or text 09189419472 or call 6664095.

Connect with Filfest Cultural Foundation Inc. here.

Friday, June 25, 2010

First Prize

Koki Fujimoto won First Prize at the Asia International Guitar Festival and Competition 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. Here are his performances on the first round:

Dionisio Aguado - Rondo No. 2 Op. 2-2

Johann Sebastian Bach - Fuga from Sonata 1 BWV 1001

The video of his performance at the finals is not with me yet. Will update as soon as I get it.

Please take note the videos are unlisted. Contact me if you need the link. ;-)

BTW, Second Prize is Mark Edwards from the USA and 3rd Prize is Tal Hurwitz of Israel.

-----PLEASE COME TOMORROW NIGHT!!!------

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Program for Saturday's Concert

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Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Home

It's 5am when I got home.

At the airport somebody brought illegal drugs. That was scary.

I'm too tired to write. Sleepy. But I have to be in school in a few hours. Practice guitar. Practice with the African Ensemble. Then practice guitar again.

Right now I'm uploading pictures and checking the videos that we took. A lot of really great guitarists. Especially the Japanese guys. Philippine guitarists are so behind. But now, we can have goals. Maybe soon, Philippine International Guitar Festival and Competition.

Monching got in to the finals again. Sadly no prize for him.

Bangkok was a great experience. I would love to be back there.

------DON'T FORGET ON SATURDAY. PLEASE COME.--------

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

This post is for Gino

Some vegetarian deep dish pizza with lots of broccoli and bell peppers. Sadly, this is not available in all Sbarro outlets. :-(

***Flight to Manila is 23:00 tonight. See you all.

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Monday, June 21, 2010

UPGO - BACH Violin Concerto in E Major III - Allegro Assai

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Sunday, June 20, 2010

Chilean Sea Bass

A friend gave me chilean sea bass to cook. Broiled it with just salt, pepper and a tiny pinch of paprika. It taste so good on the first few bites. Then it became too fishy for my taste. I couldn't finish the whole thing. Even burping afterwards is too gross.

Do not eat more than 100 grams of fish. A good advice.

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Saturday, June 19, 2010

royal is hopefully back

One of my favorite teachers royal hartigan is hopefully back to the Philippines from his trip in Ghana today.

African high when I get back to Manila this June 23. I'm so excited. Hopefully, the real drums will arrive soon. I miss royal, Kekeli, drumming, singing and dancing my heart out.

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Friday, June 18, 2010

Soba at Teriyaki Boy

Cha Soba served with shaved ice and dipping sauce. And Sake Sushi.

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Thursday, June 17, 2010

Heitor Villalobos - Etude No. 11

This was the best that I could play that day. hahahahaha. Blah!

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Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Pasta at Mary Grace

The picture on the menu fooled me. I was thinking of a small serving because I was not that hungry. It was big. I enjoyed the mushroom pasta but too bad I couldn't finish it.

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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Leaving on a jet plane

Leaving for Bangkok today with Franco, Monching and Carlo.

Let's pray for their success. =)

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Concert 2
“Tutti Guitarri”
“Filfest Guitar Ensemble”
June 26, 2010
Saturday, 8pm

Musicians:
Stephen Michaelangelo Alvarez
Anthony Naval
Benchito Cariño
Carlo Antonio Juan
Chris Slough
Edgardo de Dios
Jennifer de Vera
Phil Valdez

Insular Life Auditorium, Insular Life Corporate Center, Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, Muntinlupa City

Tickets @ P800(orchestra) and P400(balcony)
50% discount for students and 20% for senior citizens

For info: (+632) 666-40-95; 0918-941-94-72
filfestfoundationfyi@yahoo.com; filfestfoundation@yahoo.com

Monday, June 14, 2010

Tutti Guitarri Poster

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Gendai Guitar Magazine English Translation

by Kazu Sakai

Minoru Inagaki visited the Philippines and gave a recital in Alabang, in the suburbs of Manila. The program included pieces by composers from Spain (Vinas, Moreno Torroba, Albeniz) and Latin America (Villa Lobos, Piazzolla, Nunez, Carlebaro, Orbon, and Mexican popular songs). For encore, he played “Sakura Variation” by Yocoh and “Julia Florida” by Barrios.

About a half of the audience were general music lovers and the other half were guitar enthusiasts. All were impressed by Inagaki’s performance and gave him a big applause. After the concert, Inagaki appeared in the lobby and spent a pleasant time with the audience, giving his autograph on the program, taking pictures together, and chatting. Then he joined a group of professional and amateur guitarists in a nearby café-restaurant. There, each on took a turn and played some pieces and asked various questions to Inagaki. Inagaki played a guitar arrangement of a famous Filipino song “Dahil sa Isang Bulaklak”. He practiced this piece for encore, but in the end he did not play it in the concert thinking that he was not fully mastering the piece. He played it so beautifully that the group regretted that he did not play it in the concert. The following day, Inagaki attended a dinner gathering with guitarists and guitar students. Here again, participants took turns and played various pieces. Inagaki joined them and played a couple of duo pieces without any practice. That was a fun.

After returning to Japan, Inagaki sent me the following message. “As we have only very little information about the guitar in the Philippines, I was very curious to see how the things are going there. I was happy to find the levels of guitarists in the Philippines, both professional and amateur, much higher than I expected. Their knowledge on guitar repertoire is very rich, probably thanks to information through internet. People in the Philippines are delightful, warm, friendly and helpful. My stay this time was only for three days, but I really enjoyed it, I hope I can have another opportunity to go to the Philippines”.

In the Philippines there are several universities with a guitar section in the music department. Guitar concerts are held from time to time. Inagaki’s concert was organized by Filfest Foundation. This foundation is aimed at promoting classical music in the suburban city of Alabang and organizing several concerts a year. One of such concerts last year featured Rodorigo’s Concierto Aranjuez Brower’s Concierto Elegiaco, rendered by Filipino orchestra and guitarists. In January this year, the first Manila International Guitar Festival was held. Participants included Filipino guitarists residing in USA, such as Michael Dadap and Florante Aguilar, a young Taiwanese guitarist Steve Lin, who is studying under Eliot Fisk, and many Filipino guitarists and guitar makers. The program, which ran for four days, included solo and ensemble concerts, master classes, lectures on various subjects such as guitar maintenance and injuries of guitarists. The festival also played a major role in putting together for the first time many guitarists, guitar teachers, students and guitar enthusiasts from different parts of Manila and the Philippines. In the festival, Franco Maigue, winner of last year’s national competition for young artists, played Concierto Aranjuez. He was with the Manila Symphony Orchestra directed by the above-mentioned Michael Dadap, who is a superb guitarist and composer but also the director of the New York Children’s Orchestra. Franco played it very beautifully, both with dynamism and subtlety, and made us expect for his bright future.

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Saturday, June 12, 2010

UPGO Videos at Arts in the City

Luigi Boccherini - Fandango

Georges Bizet - Jota Aragonaise

Astor Piazzolla - Adios Nonino

UP Guitar Orchestra are Jenny de Vera, Franco Raymundo Mosacardon-Maigue, Mark Stephen Luna, Aaron Aguila, Roneil Santos, Jordan Amaca, Jeffrey Malazo, Tommy Katigbak, Adrik Cristobal and Jeann Rufo.

Conducted by Lester Demetillo

BTW, these videos are Jeann's personal videos so if you noticed the camera's always focused on her. LOL. Love you Jeann! =)

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Friday, June 11, 2010

My Picture on Gendai Guitar Mag!

I got the news last week. One of the sweetest news I received. My picture with Minoru Inagaki was published at the latest issue of Gendai Guitar Magazine (with guitarist Yasuji Ohagi on the cover).

The article is about Minoru Inagaki's visit here in Manila. He had a concert in Alabang last March 27.

Picture on the magazine.

Original. Photo by Jun Borromeo

This one is from my camera!

We ordered 5 copies of the June 2010 issue of Gendai Guitar Magazine. Hopefully it will arrive soon.

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Thursday, June 10, 2010

UPGO Performance at Arts in the City

UP Guitar Orchestra performance at the inauguration of the GALLERY of Arts in Taguig City.

June 4, 2010

We wanted to try something new. We have been playing Boccherini's Fandango, Bizet's Jota Aragonaise and Piazzolla's Adios Nonino for quite sometime now so we challenged ourselves to memorize these pieces. =)

UP Guitar Orchestra with Johnny Alegre who also performed that night with his band.

UP Guitar Orchestra

Videos to be posted soon.

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Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Greek Food at Cyma

Tuna Steaks on top. Heaven.

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Tuesday, June 8, 2010

My friend's wedding

May 29 was my friend's big day. It was a very nice wedding. Flow was smooth and fast.

This wedding is really very close to my heart as I have helped with some of the preparations.

Posing with the wedding band. On my right is Tim Cada, guitarist of Sitti.

If you want good music for your events please visit website of BLUESUB MUSIC ASSEMBLY for contact numbers, musician profiles and demos

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