Regine Velasquez a fan of Bisaya songwriters

CEBU, Philippines —  In a Zoom interview Tuesday to promote her upcoming event, “Freedom: Regine Velasquez-Alcasid Digital Concert,” the Asia’s Songbird shared her love for Bisaya songwriters, specifically her current favorite, Visayan Music Awards 2019 champion Ferdinand Aragon.

“Alam mo ang ikinatutuwa ko sa lahat, yung mga songwriters from Cebu. Yung Bisaya talaga kinakanta nila. Kasi marunong ako mag-Bisaya konti and I can understand. Nakakatuwa pakinggan. Ako tuwang-tuwa ako sa mga Bisaya,” said Regine when asked what she thought of OPM’s growing global audience.

“Yung title ng song ‘Di Ko Man,’ sobrang favorite ko yung song na yun. Si Ferdinand Aragon, you are so good! I’m a fan,” she gushed of Aragon, a Fine Arts graduate from UP Cebu who placed first runner-up for his Bisaya entry “Di Ko Man” at the 2018 Philippine Pop Songwriting Competition.

“Sana madami pang ibang dialect ang ma-discover natin sa mga OPM songs. Sa mga songwriters diyan, if you speak another dialect, ipagmalaki natin yan kasi nuknukan ang dami ng ating dialect. Continue to create, because that is God’s gift for you. Continue to share it because it’s wonderful. Nakaka-proud.”

Regine will take her Filipino fans worldwide to a rare date night experience as she is set to deliver a melodic spectacle featuring a new repertoire on Feb. 14.

“A lot of the songs for this concert are not within my comfort zone. I wanted to surprise and satisfy my audience,” she said.

The Valentine’s Day concert will be streaming simultaneously on digital platforms ktx.ph, iWanttFC, and TFC IPTV. It will have a full concert setup with a live band and back-up singers and dancers. She also teased about a special guest.

The concert’s title, “Freedom,” has a lot of meaning for  Regine. “Because of the pandemic that happened, it’s like we all want to be free. I wanted to do something else and be given that freedom of singing whatever I want,” she shared.

“Freedom” is produced by ABS-CBN Events, IME, and PLDT and will be directed by Paolo Valenciano with musical direction from Raul Mitra, Regine’s brother-in-law.

VIP tickets were sold out within 12 hours upon release but general admission tickets are still available at P1,200 on ktx.ph and will soon be available on iWantTFC.