Sitti who?

The on-going mall tour of the Philippine Jazz Festival has been a wonderful musical experience. While Sitti did play, other bands and artists are also showcasing their unique stuff to bring the local brand of jazz to the limelight. New movers and shakers, as they say.

Having watched a couple of nights of the festival myself, there are two acts, I’m convinced, who are more than worth seeing once. First is Afro-Brazilian all-percussion ensemble Brigada, who jammed with Sir Bo Razon the night of February 22. The number of members of the band has since grown from their humble beginnings (occasionally, one can still catch them at Saguijo Cafe), but the rousing rhythms remain. They play powerful drum anthems – booming, then rattling, then booming again, like a loud and happy trance. Anyone listening will be compelled to cavort and jive wherever they may be.

Second is Nyko Maca + Playground. While I am not much of a music critic (I am underqualified to consider myself as so), I can bravely predict that the group is bound very soon, like a bunch of gangbusters, to break in the local electro-samba scene (how impressive is the stylish, hip-hop revival of Maalaala Mo Kaya!). Their music, to the delight of the Greenbelt audience who were able to catch a sample, is genre-defying; there are traces of electronica, bossa nova, jazz, R&B, Latin, hiphop, breakbeat, gypsy and flamenco strings, and classical, among others.

Nyko, a former “Star in a Million” first runner-up who is the group’s vocalist, is the tie that binds everything together. Her voice is (all at once) sultry, beguiling, seductive, powerful. Playground, meanwhile, is composed of DJ Neon8, guitarist Rick Sanchez, and saxophonist Alvin Cornista.

I am highly recommending all Manilenyos to catch these two groups of musicians perform. They are world-class, homegrown talents. Music, after all, is a universal language, a most effective form of expression. Listen to Brigada and Nyko Maca + Playground…and you’ll find out what it means to be spontaneous. Improvisational. Free.

For more information on the Philippine Jazz Festival, visit the official page and schedule.
For more information on Nyko Maca + Playground, visit www.myspace.com/nykomaca.