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By Sarah Baviera, Contributor
MAEGAN AGUILAR was just starting to discover the
world at 16 when her famous singer-songwriter father Freddie Aguilar
convinced her to follow his footsteps. “There was extreme pressure
for me since I didn’t want to be a singer and I was very
stubborn, too. We got into tons of arguments, then one day Tatay
gave me an ultimatum that if I didn’t agree, he was going to
completely forbid me to pursue music. So that was that, and there
was nothing I can do anymore, so I obeyed na lang,” she recalls.
She admits that for the first five years after breaking into the
music business, she carried a heavy feeling of resentment in her
heart.
She explains though that she didn’t shun
music, and all she wanted was to be a drummer. At a young age,
Maegan was already fixated on drums, hoping to one day
make it to P.I.T. (Percussion Institute Technology) in California.
“I had this grand illusion to play for the
likes of Sting or Lenny Kravitz and become the only Filipino drummer
to be in the ranks of the most famous kick-ass drummers in the
world,” she reveals, adding, “We are all free to dream,
right?”
Maegan is a chameleon when it comes to her music
of choice. “I can sing songs from any genre if I wanted to, or if
I feel like it. I don’t want to be boxed.” She clarifies that
she doesn’t want to be misinterpreted as haughty, a tag that has
been associated with her for being brutally frank at times. Maegan
says that there is no conscious effort for her to be different from
her dad.
She has been in the music business for a decade
and a half but she is perceived as an artist who hasn’t even
peaked. She agrees completely, “No, I’m not happy yet, despite
all the shows and tours that I’ve done for the past 15 years
in music, I feel that’s there’s more out there for me. I would
like to have a chance to be big, rich and more famous here in our
country, that would make me feel a little more fulfilled as an
artist.”
Freddie’s baby admits that she rarely includes
her original songs in her live performance repertoire. “It depends
what kind of audience is in front of me, if generally, they are the
type that wants to hear my compositions, then I play them, and when
people just happens to be there, then I stick to famous covers and
old school repertoires that get people up. But since I have this new
album out under Dyna, some songs in this CD are now regularly part
of our line up everywhere we get to play.”
Now that she is married and has her own family,
Maegan doesn’t feel pressured that music should transport her to
another level. “ I just want to sing and perform. I have always
tried to please others, I guess it’s high time to please the
artist in me.”
Maegan’s self -titled CD will be launched this
Saturday, March 8 at the Eastwood Plaza Central. She also performs
regularly at the Tiendesitas in Ortigas every Wednesday.
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