Welcome the Masculados

The letter M logo on the album cover is what first grabs your attention. It looks like a strange combination of MTV and Channel V, something that is not likely to happen at any time despite all the strange going-ons in this world. Closer inspection shows that it is indeed an M but that thing in the center is not a letter V. It is instead an arm, flexed to the max and showing off a well-formed bicep. Other biceps also nicely buffed are also displayed on the cover. There are no legs and no butts but if you like torsos and abs, it’s a smorgasbord.

The album is titled Masculados after a new male group of the same name. Masculado is the Pinoy’s take on muscular, which comes from muscles. So we have all those muscles on display on the cover. The first thing that comes to mind with the name is that black-leather-costumed male group from the late ’70s, Hagibis, which was patterned after the New York club music sensation of the period, the Village People. Muscles though were not what those groups were about. In this regard, the Masculados hew closer to the American male stripper group, the Chippendales. Better yet, what I see and hear is a male version of the Sex Bomb Girls. No, not Sex Balls, which is too funny to be sexy but the Masculados.

In fact, in reply to the Sex Bomb Girls’ hit tune Bakit Papa? the Masculados offer up Sana Mama. There is even a Mamasan Mix of the song written by Lito Camo and Noel Macanaya who also collaborated as producers. Another tune with two mixes is Camo’s Macho Papa which has another more hip hop cut presented as the Freestyle Mix. Mike Hanopol, the Pinoy rocker who came up with some of the most memorable tunes recorded by Hagibis, joins the Masculados for a ride with two new compositions, Lagot Ka and Libreng-Libre.

The other cuts in the album are Uhhya Uhhya, Ratratin, Hawakan Mong Mabuti and Masculados. All these tunes keep up the sexy mood with their pronounced dance beat and double-entendre lyrics. The Masculados’ singing is only passable. It is best that these guys be seen and heard at the same time. But there is a good time feel throughout the album that makes listening and maybe even dancing to it loads of fun.

The creative mind behind the Masculados is movie director Maryo J. de los Reyes. From out of hundreds of hopefuls, he chose seven young men who fit the Masculado criteria of being tall, (5’9" to 5’11"), well-built, good-looking, very appealing and can sing and dance. These are model Omar Principe, gym instructor Zoltan Amore, registered dentist Bok, model Kiro Amirati, student Lexter Lazaro, model Robin Robel and computer expert Ailex de Asis. These guys went through extensive training for over a year with singing and dancing lessons and lots of hours in the gym to beef up their muscles. Then the album was recorded and is finally out in the market. So say hello to the Masculados.

Grammy’s ‘live’ telecast

This is a first and something that should have been done a long time ago. The Philippines will finally watch the Grammys live. The 2003 45th Grammy Awards that will be held at the Madison Square Garden in New York City on the evening of Feb. 23 will also be seen live via ABC-5 on Feb. 24 from 9:30 to 1 p.m. Although we get news of the winners quick enough these days, there is really nothing quite like watching the whole proceedings live. Getting the show some days or weeks later like we did in the past was so anti-climactic and I had long wondered why do we get the Academy Awards live but not the Grammys when ours is a music-loving country.

I know, I know that the Grammy winning artists and their recordings will see added sales boost all over the world, including of course the Philippines. I know too that the influx of foreign releases is really an enemy worse than piracy for original Filipino music. Just think of the number of radio time these songs occupy and that does not include music television. But Grammy night is always good entertainment so let us all enjoy this one.