The music of Hajji Alejandro, Marco Sison, Nonoy Zuniga, Rey Valera are the soundtrack of Gen Xers and Baby Boomers who grew up in the Philippines. Filipinos are known to be gifted with music whether a lyricist, a music producer or a musician. Singing is considered to be a major hobby in the Philippines. As a humor which can be true, you are not Filipino if you don’t have a karaoke machine in your house.
Growing up in the Philippines and having older cousins who lived in the same household and an uncle who owned a jukebox business have been my big music influence. And so I’ve been familiar with these Original Pilipino Music (OPM). As a Gen Xer though, I grew up having a big admiration to Pops Fernandez, the concert queen of the Philippines. From her very first concert “Folks meet Pops” which I remember vividly watching it with my mom and my besties at the Folk Arts Theater in the mid ’80s in the Philippines to her “Awesome” concert at the Araneta Coliseum were all vibrant and infectious . Pops was able to command arenas and coliseums and never failed to impress fans. I watched faithfully her late night variety show on a Sunday night with the Philippine Concert King Martin Nievera and record it with my VCR so I could watch it over and over and talked about it with my school friends the following day. Yes, I was an avid fan. So to see these Filipino music icons in one night and taking photos was a treat for me. I am very thankful for the Amore team for this opportunity.
On June 26, 2022, hitmakers Hajji, Nonoy, Marco, Rey and Pops beguiled a large audience at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. The four kings serenaded the audience with their original ballad songs from the ’80s and dazzled them with their cover from Four Tops to Backstreet Boys’ hits. The Kings’ performance was a celebration of walking on memory lane in the ’70s and ’80s. The audience were entertained with their witty dialogues and humor. And I couldn’t agree more, aside from being mesmerized with their voices, I found them really funny whether it was scripted or not. And speaking of voices, the four male artists’ vocals were impressive – modulated with satisfying precision as if I’m listening to my old vinyl record.
Pops Fernandez‘ enthusiasm was contagious. When she started to cover Dua Lipa’s “Levitating” she encouraged audience participation, such as clapping and hand swaying and the audience agreed. The concert queen followed it with the classic “Sumayaw Sumunod” by The Boyfriends. Pops performed covers for some of the most popular music throughout the set list. Rocking a denim outfit with a high waist pants and cropped top was definitely made for dancing. On the second part of the show, Pops wore an elegant shimmering gown with fringes playing around her arms that I completely was in love with. Her outfit complemented her duets with the four gentlemen, Stylistics’ “You Make Me Feel Brand New” with Nonoy, Atlantic Starr’s “Always” with Hajji, Olivia Newton John and Cliff Richard’s “Suddenly” with Marco. And finally a chorus with the four – “A Time of my Life” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”.
There was no elaborate stage set or grandiose production, just a pure good ‘ol music. The setlist consist of relaxed and exuberant repertoire. The sound quality was fantastic. Even though the performance stretched close to two hours long and ended at 11 pm on a Sunday night the audience clung on until the end of the night. Overall, it was well put together and audience really had a ball.
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