apl.de.ap: A mission beyond music

MANILA, Philippines - apl.de.ap is untiring in wanting to give back as he is in producing music that makes you get up and dance.

The Fil-Am toast of the dance music circuit is returning to the Philippines today to promote his new album, The Beginning (MCA Music Inc.). He is also on a mission for the Pearl S. Buck Foundation, beneficiary of his Party Light, Party Right Club Tour 2010.

The Black Eyed Peas member will be in Club Vudu, Cebu, tomorrow, Dec. 18; Republiq Club, Resorts World in Newport Area, Manila on Dec. 22; and at The Mansion (Pampanga) on Christmas Day, Dec.25.

He will also do some location hunting for a computer center in Pampanga, where he plans to send 20 children to free computer classes.

“I already bought 10 laptops,” he said in a phone interview. “And I want to partner with other Filipinos in this venture.”

The school is only the first. apl plans to build others like it in various areas someday.

But before that, he and his Pinay mom Cristina will play Sta. Claus for the fifth time in their native Pampanga. They will give away Christmas packages to the needy in Sapang Bato, Angeles City, .

For apl, giving back, not only on Christmas, but the whole year round is old news. What’s new is that he is focusing on children this time, and the Pearl S. Buck Foundation.

With fellow Black Eyed Peas members (from left) Fergie, will.i.am and Taboo

Turns out the foundation got apl.de.ap as sponsor in the US and helped him get adopted there. It’s a touching gesture apl wants to recognize. So he invited his friends DJs Joker, Buddha and Ammo with MC Richi Rich to join him in the club tour.

“I am helping this rock band Faircat as well,” related apl. And he plans to include the group someday in his tour, and even in his albums.

apl has other plans for 2011. He will join Black Eyed Peas on an Asian tour with Manila as one of its stops. They will also perform in Europe and do the halftime act at the Super Bowl.

Along the way, apl will spread the gospel about his new album with the Peas, which he describes as different from all the others in that “we slowed down the tempo a bit.”

This only proves that apl’s — and Peas’sound — is always changing. They go with the flow of whoever they’re under the influence of at the moment.

For The Beginning, apl says the band's current sound is a mix of electro, hip-hop, rock and other genres.

“We want to try new things, push the boundaries as we travel around the world,” he explained. “The music is still danceable, in the spirit of Christmas. We’d like to bring joy this season.”

The track that gives apl the greatest pleasure in the album is Someday. A run-through of the lyrics shows why.

Someday, The Beginning’s fifth track, is full of hope, the way apl’s life is today.

I came here from the Philippines/In the plane with some big, big dreams/I left everything I knew behind me/Like my mom and family

“Someday talks about a dream of mine,” he admits.

No, he qualifies, he hasn’t fulfilled all of them yet. After working with Florante, apl’s next target is collaborating with another folk rock icon, Freddie Aguilar.

And the guy knows his Filipino musical roots all right. At the end of the day, apl — like anyone who ventures away from his roots — will return to where it all started.

He has begun his journey back, literally and figuratively, by waving the Filipino flag wherever he goes. Now apl is taking others along with him on his quest for more musical adventures, more sources of joy — not only as a musician, but as a Filipino forever on the look-out for ways to help fellow Filipinos.