Saturday, June 25, 2011

Parokya ni Edgar's Chito Miranda talks music videos and single-blessedness

source: mb.com.ph


MANILA, Philippines – “I haven’t been single for seventeen years… so it’s a new experience for me. I’m enjoying it,” Chito Miranda, Parokya ni Edgar’s vocalist, resident heartthrob and love guru speaks.

Truth is, things move fast in the world of show business. So for all we know, Chito might again find himself in the thick of rumors linking him to a new girl, just like he did when, after two long term relationships—the last one with actress Kaye Abad—rumors swirled that he was courting another actress, his good friend Angel Locsin.

But for now, we know him to be single. And perhaps it is his current mindset that has spurred his creative juices to help flesh out the concept for Parokya ni Edgar’s latest music video for their single “Pangarap Lang Kita.”

On the set of music video shoot on a spectacularly humid afternoon in the middle of bustling Binondo, Chito is a picture of calm and slight detachment. Scattered on the set, in and around the fast food place called Chuan Kee, are the other band members, the various actors for the video, its director Avid Liongoren and his crew. Some of the members, curiously, have counterparts dressed like them; Chito in purple shirt, as is ABS-CBN talent JM de Guzman (“Mula Sa Puso”); guitarist Darius Semaña dirtied up like the child beggar hanging out on the set—who, it turns out, is a child actor and not a real street urchin typically found in places like this; back-up vocalist Vinci Montaner in a bright tank top just like Saab Magalona.

“Parang experimental siya e,” Chito explains the concept to Bulletin Entertainment during the break as the band chills out at the Volunteer Firefighters’ Café above the fast food. “Hindi naman experimental meaning deep or artistic ha. It’s just experimental na wala pa yatang gumagawa ng ganitong video. I hope it works.”

The video for “Pangarap Lang Kita” has three versions, all of which have aired at different times on MYX. The first version is a straightforward "recording session" featuring the band singing with the song’s co-writer, Happee Sy. The second single from the band’s 11th album—their ninth studio album, actually—Chito shares that Happee wrote a song, presumably for her own album, and asked him to turn it into a duet. “So I did. Tapos nung nagustuhan ko, sabi ko pwede ba naming isama sa album [namin]?”

For the second version of the music video, Chito notes that the production is a lot more pro, for the lack of a better term, than their first single, “Pakiusap Lang, Lasingin Niyo Ako,” which had been the “makulet” one showing their shenanigans during their summer vacation. “Pero ito, talagang kumuha kami ng director and back to ano talaga, working as characters,” Chito says of this production.

The second version of the video follows a simple storyline between a rich girl and a common guy. “Ito ‘yung life story nila. Pero the love story never happened kasi… parang never silang nagtagpo… never nilang naamin sa isa’t-isa na may gusto sila sa isa’t-isa.”

This would also be the version featuring both JM and model Sabrina Anupol as the lead characters. According to Chito, the other actors in the video are people they’ve met and worked with before and with whom they remained friends. One of them, Charm Burdette, a former GMA talent, confirms she’s agreed to do the video "as a favor to Chito."

“I invited them because I needed hot girls and willing naman sila,” Chito says seriously, but with a hint of mischief. “They’re just really hot and pretty. Pero simple lang. That’s what I like about them.”

But the last and current version of the video now airing is where the punch line really is, so to speak. Taking over the role of their celebrity guests, Chito and Vinci now play the star-crossed lovers played by JM and Sab, respectively.

The band had recorded a second version of “Pangarap Lang Kita” with Chito doing the duet with Vinci. “Ah, naisip kasi namin baka mahirap mag-promote with [Happee]. And it would be difficult for us to bring her on tour. Kaya gumawa kami ng version namin ni Vinci. Eh, ang nangyari nagustuhan din namin ‘yung version na ‘yon kasi nakakatawa… he singing lyrics ng babae.” Hence the concept of the music videos, with each version released without much funfare like a sort of weird experiment, mostly for their amusement, to see if people would notice. Judging from comments on YouTube, the fans did not let them down—they got the joke!

“This ninth album, tinawag naming ‘Middle Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers.’ We’re trying to describe ourselves sa point ng buhay namin na ‘to,” Chito says bluntly. And it is here, he says, that they’ve practically gone back to basics. “Para siyang, it was a conscious effort na gumawa ng kanta na… more on narratives, panay kalokohan. Parang back to [the] nineties talaga. Ah, ‘yun naman talaga ‘yung roots namin e, parang back to the roots na panay simple lang ‘yung production, simple lang ‘yung songs… enjoyment lang talaga.”

And if Chito is all about living up life with his band mates on their way to the middle-age, his love life has so far gone back to ground zero but not that he minds. “Ngayon ko lang nararamdaman, ‘Ay! Ok din pala maging single,'” he shares.

The best part, for him, is “You get to hang out with your friends more and I get to play as much ano… ah… computer games that I want,” he smiles. Juvenile? Maybe to some. But maybe that’s just how he rock n’ rolls.

source: mb.com.ph

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