Winners at the MTV Awards

Bamboo was named Favorite Group and Favorite New Artist/Group in this year’s MTV Pilipinas 2004 Awards. There is no denying that Bamboo did make the noisiest splash in last year’s hit charts with the comeback of the greatly-missed soloist and the surefire hit Noypi. The big selling tune was also named Favorite Song and this gave the rock band the most number of trophies won in the annual music/video tilt from the best music channel of them all.

Bamboo marked the return to active performing of Rivermaya’s former soloist Francisco Manalac, also known as Bamboo. Other members are Nathan Azarcon, who was also once with Rivermaya, Ira Cruz on guitar and Vic Mercado on drums. The latter two were formerly with Passage. Taken individually, these four guys are not really newcomers to the music business but technically, when taken together as Bamboo, they belong to today’s newest, most exciting rock band of today.

The MTV awards night was held on the evening of Thursday, July 1 at PSC Philsports Arena formerly Ultra in Pasig. Other big winners were This Love by Maroon5 for Favorite International Act; Where is the Love by Black Eyed Peas for Favorite International Video; Jay R with Bakit Pa Ba? for Favorite Male Artist; Jolina Magdangal for Bahala Na as Favorite Female Artist; Doll’s Head by The Late Isabel for Best Indie Video; Avid Liongoren as Best Director for the video of Everyday by Barbie’s Cradle; and Sayang by Gloc 9 directed by Topel Lee for Best Video.

Special awards in surprise and unlikely but very MTV categories were also given. These were:: Best Use of an Open Space Award presented by Juicy Fruit to Paolo Santos for the song Mapansin; Best Dance Sequence Award presented by Smart Buddy to the Viva Hot Babes for the song Bulaklak; and the Falsest Falsetto Awards presented by SMB Play to the Akafellas for Bongga Ka Day.

The occasion was made doubly special with the presence of foreign performers who came to the Philippines to join the fun. These were Australian Idol champion Guy Sebastian who performed a duet with Star for a Night winner Sarah Geronimo, Irish pop trio Bellefire and sexy, naughty and big pop star from Thailand Tata Young on her second visit to this country.

For those who were not there, the MTV Pilipinas 2004 Special will be aired on the MTV channel on Saturday, July 24 at 3 p.m. with repeats on Sunday, July 25 at 9 p.m., Tuesday, July 27 at 3 p.m., Friday, July 30 at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 31 at 10 p.m.. The red carpet parade of celebrities can be seen on Saturday, July 17 at 8:30 p.m. on Wedneday, July 21 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, July 25 at 8:30 p.m.

New Indie CDs

From the mail: Four new indie CDs from Reynard Cordero of Triad Records. "With this letter you are holding four ground-breaking releases from artists who embody the vast potential of Filipino creativity. These musicians’ demos serendipitously landed on my hands a few years back, opening the doors to what now becomes a self-proclaimed believer in all music that is Philippine-made, an independent record label called Triad Records.

"Artists like foodshelter&clothing (Bacolod), Orange (Cagayan de Oro), Lizard Chips (Davao) and Jai B. (Quezon City) are at the forefront of what is slowly emerging as a country-wide backyard music production phenomenon. With audio software and PC-based recording now being the norm, musicians can capture their passion and talent in a tremendous easy way (next only to texting with one’s eyes closed).

"Triad Records has the urgency (and an out-of-the-box marketing strategy to boot) to catapult these artists’ music to the general public with hopes of turning around the ‘tasteless pop music epidemic’ that has besieged this country of ours, stifling our sensibilities and insulting our intelligence.

"From this point forward, I’d let the music sing for itself. They will hit all MiniStop stores mid-July."

So all of you our there interested in music that is new, different and totally Filipino, check out the nearest MiniStop store for these recordings by Jai B See You Again, Lizard Chips Ice Cold, Orange Scissors and foodshelter&clothing, Cracked.