ASTURIAS GUITAR SHEET MUSIC

Concert for Cancer

Konsiyerto para sa Kanser (Concert for Cancer)
Meralco Theater, Pasig City, Philippines
March 26, 2010

The Philippine Society for the Study of Trophoblastic Diseases, Inc. held a fund raising concert at the Meralco Theater. We bought two tickets in support of the cause from our friend Ate (Older Sister) Yen, sister of Juris.

The concert was packed with performers namely (in order of appearance) ______________, the Bukas Palad Choir, Juris Fernandez, Nyoy Volante, Sitti Navarro and Aiza Seguerra. “Sulit na concert” (“worth the money”) as Sitti mentioned during her performance, referring to the considerably cheap price of tickets for the amount of talent performing. The Meralco Theater was an excellent venue as the acoustics and the ambience of the place was perfect for the all the beautiful music made that night. I now have a new appreciation for musical/performance venues such as the Meralco Theater compared to multi-use sports stadiums such as the Araneta Coliseum.

___________ (coming from families of doctors) started off with some acoustic favorites then the Bukas Palad Choir showed us their talent in producing soothing and harmonized music. Juris entered next with her band and performed a mix of popular remakes (The Climb, Love Story, etc) and some of her original songs (I Don’t Want to Fall, ‘Di Lang Ikaw, etc) from her newly released album. Nyoy performed next and awed us with his guitar skills and stage presence. Sitti followed with a couple of bossa nova songs including her very popular “Para sa Akin”. Aiza Seguerra, who had to rush through the traffic from her gig at the Avenue Q play in Makati, performed last; charming the crowd with her humor and cheeriness.

The night was a success and everyone had a good time. It’s always a good feeling to have fun and at the same time help a good cause.

Sweden's most popular poet and song-writer ever. Almost everyone can hum along, and an awful lot of people actually know the words and music for guitar etc. Cheerful and memorable tunes in a variety of popular modes (Swedish and Latin-American mainly) with texts that are dramatic and humorous stories of love, travel, escaping crooks and cops in foreign ports, and constantly celebrating spring, summer, and the delights of wine, women and song. He shares Bellman's ability to borrow popular musical idiom and make it entirely his own. In "Min alsking (du ar som en ros)" he transforms Burns's "My luv's like a red red rose..." and a melting Latino rumba rhythm into his own inimitable signature tune, with which he finished his immensely popular summer concerts at Grona Lund fun fair in Stockholm till he died. He was such a showman that it hardly matter that his voice had almost gone and he was over 80 during the final years. He died in 1976 at the age of 85.

His son Sven-Bertil Taube has tried valiantly to keep up the old man's traditions, and done a pretty good job of it despite lacking his charisma and humour. It's hard to believe but the summer show at Grona Lund always seems way too short - not only do great favourites get left out, but whole favourite areas of ET's music too. Bit like a concert with less than a dozen numbers by the Beatles or the Stones.