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If there is one persistent notion that must be vanished, it is that
the whole Philippine archipelago is a postcard-pretty sunlit tropical
paradise with sugary white beaches, where people sway to exotic ethnic
rhythms and everyone smiles a lot under coconut trees and they like to
put lovely little garlands around your neck. It's crap perpetuated by
our tourism department.
The 21st Century Republic of the Philippines-capital city Manila- is a
much more complex animal. The only true thing among the aforementioned
cliches is sunlight-insufferable, harsh sunlight falling down hard on a
strange place full of even stranger contradictions. Its a collission of
cultures, a chaos of industrial/ monoxide smoke, karaoke noise and
cheesy love songs. High rise condominium and malls sit side by side
with mountains of garbage and squatter shanties. It boasts of a high
literacy rate but politicians must be able to sing and dance the
Macarena or Ocho Ocho during campaign period. The biggest Roman
Catholic nation in Asia has a population feeding on Mexican and
Taiwanese telenovela, Japanese anime, noontime game shows with gyrating
strippers and midgets. Farmers in the middle of murky rice fields talk
on multimedia capable mobile phones. The electronic beeps and bleeps of
music videos vollide with raucous karaoke jukeboxes. Tribesmen in the
far north smoke fake Marloboros, wear counterfeit Tommy Hillfiger jeans
and sing Tom Jones tunes; little island kids dance to mainstream hip
hop.
This place is a melting pot of sounds that defy easy
categorization. Despite the average Westerner's stereotypes
(most of the time, stupid and insultign; i.e. "Oh,
you people actually have e-mail?!"), parts of Manila
are a breeding ground for some of the best hooks, melodies
and grooves, a wide spectrum of styles ranging from
indiepop/rock, techno, house, nu jazz, reggae, new wave,
punk, avant garde, etc. We have stuff that your mainstream
recording industry usually ignores (proving for the
nth time that most mainstream recording companies are
owned and operated by businessmen and their accountants).
Enter Terno Records, coming to you from traffic jammed and
dust-enveloped Manila. Yes, its a Third World hell-hole, but not all of
us live in thatched roof huts, and we don't have frigging tails.
"Terno" is a word of Hispanic origin (in
case you slept through history class, we've been a Spanish
colony for 500 years). As a proper noun, it is the national
attire for women. As an adjective, it means "to
match", an indication of a state of symmetry and
proportion - something which definitely does not describe
contemporary Philippine society. It sounds good, anyway.
Terno Records is the brainchild of Toti Dalmacion, a Manila-based DJ,
vinyl collector, musician, and impresario who has evolved to be one of
the most progressive, uncompromising figureheads of the scene. A
preacher of the gospel of taste, he has exposed Metro Manilans to a
wide range of musical styles ranging from both indiepop and rock to
modern dance to bossa and everything in between. Among the acts he has
brought in include Juan Atkins, Alec Empire, Christian Smith, Marques
Wyatt, Derrick May, Jazzanova. DJ Q-Bert, Derrick Carter, Richie
Hawtin, Laurent Garnier, Ken Ishii, Jason Bentley, Swayzak, Stacey
Pullen, Doc Martin, Josh Wink, Fantastic Plastic Machine, The Lotus
Eaters, D'Sound, Ive Mendez, just to name a few. He definitely doesn't
live in a hut. And he has e-mail.
Terno Records is determined to bring to the world some
of the finest sounds with a Filipino twist indiepop/rock,
jazz, funk, house, techno, and everything in between.
Yes, some of us actually know these things. |
