By IPS Correspondents
MANILA, Mar 18 1997 (IPS)

Nearly two decades after his music went beyond the Philippines become an international hit, Freddie Aguilar is still pictured in many minds as he was at the time: his face filled with emotion, his long tresses covering his face as he strums the guitar.

Today, at 44 years of age, he still sings in pretty much the same way.

But with sizable help from his earnings and royalties from the hit folk song ‘Anak’ (‘Child’ in the local Tagalog language), Aguilar has been able to put up his own record company, rehearsal studio and a music restaurant in a resort town south of Manila.

That one song, which hit international airwaves in 1978 and in succeeding years, has made him one of the few Filipino musicians to achieve a measure of international success.

At its height, the Filipino song about was translated into 25 languages ranging from Dutch to Italian to Japanese and sung by artists of different nationalities. At one time ‘Anak’, which speaks of a parent’s lament for a wayward child, made it to the No. 2 position in European charts.

In 1985, ‘Billboard’ magazine recorded six million copies of the song sold worldwide.

These days Aguilar sings Fridays and Saturdays in his restaurant, called ‘Ka Freddie’s’. Located in Tagaytay, where many Filipinos hie off to on weekends, it has become a venue for playing and trying out new music, some contributed by customers who are talented but greenhorn musicians.

Customers whose songs are played on Friday nights – which are impromptu nights at Ka Freddie’s – get to bring home a copy of the song in cassette format. Ten such songs have been compiled by Aguilar into a new album, called ‘Impromptu’.

Aguilar says he was impressed by the music and lyrics written by the 10 individuals whose songs had been played at his restaurant. All the songs were recorded live in one Friday night.

“Because many of the lyrics were really very good, we decided to come out with an album that we could share with people other than our customers,” he said in a recent interview published in the local press.

He says ‘Impromptu’ contains not necessarily the best songs, but the 10 most “broadcast-friendly” songs, given the fact that they were recorded not in a studio but in a restaurant. But “we’ve basically captured what goes on every night at Ka Freddie’s,” Aguilar explained.

The contributor of all but one of the songs — and the carrier single at that – is known. Whoever he or she was, that composer did not leave an address with Ka Freddie’s.

Aguilar – who has made well over 30 albums in his 19-year career – says he’s intent on helping good music find an audience in a competitive market, one dominated by popular bands that have sprouted in recent years.

“I’m helping give good bands a break by recording their albums,” he said. “Our only requirement is that they have original compositions which in our opinion will click with the masses.”

Originality is probably the most precious advice the veteran singer has for young artists keen on making it big in the Philippines and in the international scene.

“They (today’s bands) play well. But what I’ve noticed is they don’t have an identity,” said Aguilar. “They sound exactly like what they’re aping. They are copying someone, it’s so obvious.”

He advises local bands dreaming of making it internationally to develop their own identity lest “their songs end up in the garbage can”.

Some may say it is easy for Aguilar to say that; after all, folk singers are not the subject of wild adulation that young crowds break into when listening to their favourite bands.

Still, Aguilar maintains that “for you to become successful all over the world, you have to be original”. He goes back to his own taste of international fame, saying it was not the theme of ‘Anak’ that clicked since the song was in the local language: “It’s the music.”

He singles out Joey Ayala, one of a handful of ethnic musicians who have penetrated the mainstream music scene dominated by Western-influenced pop, as having the potential to be “accepted internationally”.

Aguilar says he did not have originality when he was young, “but later people told me ‘you know you have your own style’.” The advice came from American soldiers who frequented the bars and lounges of Olongapo City when it was still host to the U.S.’ Subic Naval Base.

In other words, Aguilar says that singing Western pop style songs might gain singers star status at home, but it is not going to land them anywhere in the global music map.

One of Philippine music’s sages has similar words of advice for his 17-year-old daughter Maegan, who is making waves in the local rock scene and who of course, has sung at Ka Freddie’s.

Already, Maegan writes and sings her own songs. “Maegan is undergoing an identity crisis right now, but then she’s only 17 years old. What I tell her is to get away from copying. You have your own voice, use that.”

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