SUSUPE, Saipan – An all-Filipino band whose members include a carpenter, a heavy equipment operator and air-con technicians by day bagged the second place at a battle of the bands in the US territory of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) Sunday night.
The “High Pitch Band,” one of six Filipino bands that joined the Saipan Summer Jam, proved that love of music and excelling in it knows no social class.
Its members come from different parts of the Philippines – Caloocan City Metro Manila; General Santos City in Mindanao; San Jose del Monte in Bulacan province; Quezon province; and Butuan City.
Another all-Filipino band called “Rated R” got the texters’ choice awards with 3,137 text votes or about 43 percent of all the votes counted, while other bands barely got a few hundred text votes.
Rated R also placed 6th among the 10 bands that competed in the smoke-free event organized by Beach Road Magazine.
“First time naming sumali sa ganito kalaking contest … Nagbunga rin ang pagpa-practice namin (It’s our first time to join in a big competition like this…Our practice paid off),” High Pitch Band guitarist Vergelio Lauganas told GMANews.TV right after the competition.
Lauganas, from General Santos City in Mindanao, came to Saipan in 1992 to work as a farmer. It was only two years ago that he changed his job category to that of a musician for a Polynesian dance group.
The High Pitch Band’s high-wire performance awed the crowd of mixed races and nationalities, who also got to hear rock, reggae, ska, ballads, pop and Pinoy rock and roll from other Filipino bands – “Project X,” “J,” “Past & Present” and “The Channel B Band.”
“Project X” even belted out Sampagita’s classic Pinoy rock song “Nosi Balasi,” to the amazement of the crowd.
“Iba talaga ang Pinoy. Kahit saan makarating, nananalo sa mga contests na sinasalihan (Pinoys are really different. Wherever they go, they win in contests they join in),” said High Pitch Band drummer Virgilio Aguilar, who is an air-con technician by day. He hails from San Jose, Bulacan.
One of Saipan’s most popular bands consisting mainly of Filipinos, the “Big Beats,” pumped up the crowd with cover songs, and wrapped up their performance with the Doobie Brothers’ “Without Love.”
The first prize went to a local band, “Burning Bush,” which belted out reggae songs from the iconic Bob Marley and other island songs which are popular in the CNMI.
The CNMI is host to about 10,000 Filipino contract workers and Filipino-Americans.
Tags: Competitions, Entertainment, High Pitch Band, OFWs, Rated R
