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IN life, winning is not everything. Especially when
you’re in the local music business, where there is no real
standard of excellence and most talent searches vary in terms of
taste and preference.
Take the case of OJ Mariano, a
runner-up in the Star in a Million search. He might not have bagged
the top plum but he went on to convince the staunchest music critics
to name him the 2006 Awit Awards’s Best New Male Recording Artist.
Life is fair, we must say.
Armed only with his amazing vocal
skills and his passion for music, OJ busied himself with regular
performances at hip bars and hotel lounges, experiences that
undoubtedly enriched his musicality as an artist and deepened his
range as a performer.
“In these venues, I get to sing
a wider range of music, I learned how to connect with people, I
learned how to have fun,” he shares. OJ admits that it has been a
while since he took center stage as solo performer for a major
production that is why he is seriously preparing for his special
concert tonight at the Ratsky’s Morato, billed OJ Mariano: Best of
Me.
“My repertoire will include
songs from various genres and from the different eras. Many of the
songs are personal favorites and I’m so happy that I will have the
chance to share my music to everyone who will come and listen to me.
Of course, I want my audience to enjoy and have fun, too.”
OJ will be backed by the Metafour
Band and will have Kyla as his special guest. “I’ve always
looked up to Kyla, she is naturally gifted with an amazing vocal
range and she is wonderful as a person.”
Kyla also has nice words for OJ.
“He is the most underrated singer I know. He is cool, he sings
really well and most important, he is humble.”
This concert is for the benefit
of the Sweepers’s Brigade Project of the Environmental Protection
and Waste Management Department of the Quezon City government.
For ticket inquiries, call Bright
Lights Entertainment at 927-0611. Tickets are also being sold at the
venue.
--Sylvia Santamaria
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