Filipino rocker tapped for ASEAN gig in Cebu Christine Avendaño Inquirer
November 14, 2006
ROCKER-BUSINESSMAN RJ Jacinto has not left the building.
His latest gig is a catchy song hitting government airwaves to promote the 12th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit which will be held in Cebu from Dec. 10 to 14.
“A mixture of Clapton, Santana and Spanish acoustic music,” was how Jacinto described the song which he composed and sang himself.
“It has a bit of Latin, rock and jazz,” he said in a phone interview, “and patterned after the Sinulog beat,” in reference to the lively beat of the Cebuano festival.
Performed with acoustic guitars and ethnic instruments, the song is “warm and welcoming, elegant and has island flair,” Jacinto added.
Who knows? ASEAN heads of state may find themselves rocking (or head banging) to Jacinto’s Latin-jazz-Sinulog beat.
The rocker, who’s almost 60, will perform the song during the finale of the ASEAN summit gala for the 16 heads of state and other guests, according to Lupita Aquino-Kashiwahara, who heads the gala presentation.
The one-and-a-half-hour show, which will be held at the Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa “is a blend of the region’s interests and will show the best performers in the Philippines,” Kashiwahara said.
Performing dance numbers are the Bayanihan and the Ramon Obusan Folkloric Group.
Fashion designer Pitoy Moreno will show off clothes using Philippine indigenous materials designed with the national costumes of ASEAN countries as inspiration.
Modeling for Moreno are international beauty title holders Gemma Cruz-Araneta, Gloria Diaz, Margie Moran-Floirendo, Evangeline Pascual, Miriam Quiambao and Precious Lara Quigaman.
Folk singer Freddie Aguilar will perform his international hit “Anak.”
Filipino divas Riza Navales, Ma. Donna and Eva Santos, who recently won international singing contests, will render “Anak” in Japanese, Malaysian and English.
Singer-actress Lea Salonga will also perform songs with the Mandaue Children’s Choir and the Peace Philharmonic Philippines.
But the highlight of the gala show is Jacinto’s rap performance of “One Sharing and Caring Community” in the languages of the countries attending the summit, according to Kashiwahara.
A tall order, admitted the Filipino rocker, who is busy learning how the foreign phrases should be properly pronounced.
Jacinto said he was thrilled to be performing with a full orchestra, saying this was the first time he would be performing on such a “grand scale.”
