Thursday, June 9, 2011
Philippine Tourism Public Photos
Check this link to see the beauty of the Pearl of the Orient - Philippines!
http://www.flickr.com/groups/philippine_tourism_public_photos/pool/with/4973753859/
http://www.flickr.com/groups/philippine_tourism_public_photos/pool/with/4973753859/
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Dearmanila: The Introduction
Crystal Superal explains what DEARMANILA is, and shares what she sees as the truth behind the Philippines' reputation. A short introduction to her life's work:
To see the rest of Crystal's videos, click here.
Monday, May 9, 2011
Video Podcast: Dearmanila Teaches You Tagalog
With our previous post about the Tagalog language, we present our first video podcast featuring Crystal Superal, as she teaches the three most important Filipino greetings. Learn how to say "How are you?" "I love you" and "Goodbye" in the 100-million strong nation. Let us know what you think! Enjoy.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Pinoy Pride: Arnel Pineda
Arnel Pineda, is a Filipino singer-songwriter who has served as the lead singer of the American rock band Journey since 2007.
Arnel has had a successful music career in the Philippines for 25 years, even before the Journey fame. Like most Filipino singers, he had a humble beginning. Arnel's family acquired deep debt when his mother died. His dad was forced to ask relatives to separate and take his siblings. At this time, Arnel quit school, was sleeping in the streets, and had to work odd jobs like cleaning scrap metal and docked ships, just to be able to strike out on his own.
But even at a young age, his parents instilled in him the love for music. In one interview, he revealed that one of his earlier idols were Barbara Streisand and Karen Carpenter. At 1982, at age 15, Arnel joined a group called Ijos Band. He formed and transferred to several bands since then. A talent agent spotted Pineda and his then group "New Age" and asked them to perform in Hongkong restaurants. Arnel worked in Hongkong for several years thereafter.
Like Charice, Arnel's career was hugely boosted thanks to Youtube. On June 28, 2007, Neal Schon of Journey contacted Noel Gomez, a longtime fan and friend of Pineda who uploaded many of his performance videos, to ask for Pineda's contact information. Schon sent an e-mail to Pineda inviting him to audition for Journey. The rest, as they say, is history. To quote this article:
Journey's concerts with Arnel are huge hits. This is a video from his 2008 Las Vegas concert.
This is PinoyTunes The Podcast's feature on Arnel Pineda:
For the latest on Arnel, check out his official blog: http://arnelpinedarocks.com/
Source: Wikipedia
Arnel has had a successful music career in the Philippines for 25 years, even before the Journey fame. Like most Filipino singers, he had a humble beginning. Arnel's family acquired deep debt when his mother died. His dad was forced to ask relatives to separate and take his siblings. At this time, Arnel quit school, was sleeping in the streets, and had to work odd jobs like cleaning scrap metal and docked ships, just to be able to strike out on his own.
But even at a young age, his parents instilled in him the love for music. In one interview, he revealed that one of his earlier idols were Barbara Streisand and Karen Carpenter. At 1982, at age 15, Arnel joined a group called Ijos Band. He formed and transferred to several bands since then. A talent agent spotted Pineda and his then group "New Age" and asked them to perform in Hongkong restaurants. Arnel worked in Hongkong for several years thereafter.
Like Charice, Arnel's career was hugely boosted thanks to Youtube. On June 28, 2007, Neal Schon of Journey contacted Noel Gomez, a longtime fan and friend of Pineda who uploaded many of his performance videos, to ask for Pineda's contact information. Schon sent an e-mail to Pineda inviting him to audition for Journey. The rest, as they say, is history. To quote this article:
Chilean media acclaimed Pineda's performance (translated to English): "The new vocalist fit very well with the band, his vocal aptitudes shining through, which are very similar to the legendary musician of the band, Steve Perry."] Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain described Pineda's performance in a radio interview: "We went to Chile just recently, where we had never played and they went crazy, they absolutely went nuts...Arnel's first show — talk about a stressful thing — we had a televised concert for 25 million people...Is the guy a winner? Yeah, he's a winner. He's a clutch player."
Journey's concerts with Arnel are huge hits. This is a video from his 2008 Las Vegas concert.
This is PinoyTunes The Podcast's feature on Arnel Pineda:
For the latest on Arnel, check out his official blog: http://arnelpinedarocks.com/
Source: Wikipedia
Pinoy Pride: Charice Pempengco
Charice Pempengco, or simply Charice to her fans, is a Filipino singer and actress who rose to popularity through Youtube. She is currently the most internationally hot shot singer from the Philippines.
She started her career almost like Regine Velasquez, joining small singing competitions all over the country at a tender age. In 2005, Charice joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol. Eliminated after her first performance, she was called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became one of the finalists. Although she was a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, she did not win the title in the finale and only placed third. (Wikipedia)
Charice Pempengco in The Ellen Degeneres Show
Unlike Regine, her big break happened because of a fan and with the help of the internet. Someone under the username FalseVoice uploaded her video performances in Youtube - it received over 13 million hits. Through her international performance videos, Ellen DeGeneres found her and made an on-air invitation to guest her on The Ellen Degeneres show. Pempengco also appeared on the May 12 edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode entitled the "World's Smartest Kids", where she performed Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing.[19] After the show, Oprah Winfrey contacted David Foster to see what the legendary music producer could do for Pempengco. David Foster liked her and held several well-recieved performances with her. In one of those concerts, Charice met Andrea Bocelli, her idol. Bocelli expressed his interest in performing a duet with her. Aside from her solo performance in Bocelli's birthday concert "The Cinema Tribute", she also sang a duet of "The Prayer" with the famous tenor in front of more than 8,000 people.
Charice in GLEE
In an ABC News interview, David Foster mentioned that she has the ability to mimic other people's voices, which, according to him, is a characteristic of good singers. In a separate interview, Josh Groban stated that Charice's voice is one of the most beautiful voices he has heard in a long time. The New York Post once called her a vocal prodigy for being able to sing 'big songs' even at her tender age. Ryan Murphy, the executive music producer of the hit US television series Glee, said, "When that girl opens her mouth, angels fly out."
PinoyTunes features Charice in this week's episode:
For more information about Charice, check out her website: http://www.charicemusic.com/
Source: Wikipedia
She started her career almost like Regine Velasquez, joining small singing competitions all over the country at a tender age. In 2005, Charice joined Little Big Star, a talent show in the Philippines loosely patterned after American Idol. Eliminated after her first performance, she was called back as a wildcard contender and eventually became one of the finalists. Although she was a consistent top scorer in the final rounds, she did not win the title in the finale and only placed third. (Wikipedia)
Charice Pempengco in The Ellen Degeneres Show
Unlike Regine, her big break happened because of a fan and with the help of the internet. Someone under the username FalseVoice uploaded her video performances in Youtube - it received over 13 million hits. Through her international performance videos, Ellen DeGeneres found her and made an on-air invitation to guest her on The Ellen Degeneres show. Pempengco also appeared on the May 12 edition of The Oprah Winfrey Show in an episode entitled the "World's Smartest Kids", where she performed Whitney Houston's I Have Nothing.[19] After the show, Oprah Winfrey contacted David Foster to see what the legendary music producer could do for Pempengco. David Foster liked her and held several well-recieved performances with her. In one of those concerts, Charice met Andrea Bocelli, her idol. Bocelli expressed his interest in performing a duet with her. Aside from her solo performance in Bocelli's birthday concert "The Cinema Tribute", she also sang a duet of "The Prayer" with the famous tenor in front of more than 8,000 people.
Charice in GLEE
In an ABC News interview, David Foster mentioned that she has the ability to mimic other people's voices, which, according to him, is a characteristic of good singers. In a separate interview, Josh Groban stated that Charice's voice is one of the most beautiful voices he has heard in a long time. The New York Post once called her a vocal prodigy for being able to sing 'big songs' even at her tender age. Ryan Murphy, the executive music producer of the hit US television series Glee, said, "When that girl opens her mouth, angels fly out."
PinoyTunes features Charice in this week's episode:
For more information about Charice, check out her website: http://www.charicemusic.com/
Source: Wikipedia
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Pinoy Pride: Regine Velasquez
Regine Velasquez is one of the best singers the Philippines has ever produced. She's known as "Asia's Songbird" for her exceptionally wide and powerful vocal range. She has 30 albums under her belt, winning 59 awards locally and internationally.
Regine has also won acting awards from her performances in television and film. Aside from being a singer-actress, she is also a record producer, TV host, and philanthropist. "My family was really poor, so I wanted to help them.. I wanted to send my siblings to school and I was able to. That's my greatest achievement actually," said Regine in an interview on CNN Talk Asia. Her philanthropy involved projects with Duty Free Philippines, Hongkong's AIDS foundation, Singapore's National Kidney Foundation, UNICEF, and many others.
Regine claims that she learned singing even before she could read. To train her voice, her father let her sing neck-deep in the ocean - supposedly to strengthen her stomach muscles and increase lung power. Today, she credits her vocal abilities to her dad who remains dearly close to her. Her career started in small singing contests all over the country until she won a recording deal with Octoarts. The rest, as they say is history.
Other interesting facts about Regine Velasquez:
- In 1991, she performed an outstanding performance at the Carnegie Hall, one of the most prestigious venues in the world for classical and popular music. She was the first solo Filipino act there.
- In her career she has joined about 200 competitions and won 60 of them.
- She directed most of her own music videos, concerts and TV shows.
- She does her own makeup.
-After seven years of being together, Regine and Ogie Alcasid (another Filipino singer-songwriter), announced their engagement at a noontime show.
They got married on December 22, 2010 in Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines.
Listen to PinoyTunes the Podcast's episode on Regine Velasquez:
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Regine has also won acting awards from her performances in television and film. Aside from being a singer-actress, she is also a record producer, TV host, and philanthropist. "My family was really poor, so I wanted to help them.. I wanted to send my siblings to school and I was able to. That's my greatest achievement actually," said Regine in an interview on CNN Talk Asia. Her philanthropy involved projects with Duty Free Philippines, Hongkong's AIDS foundation, Singapore's National Kidney Foundation, UNICEF, and many others.
Music Video: Regine Velasquez's "And I Love You So"
Regine claims that she learned singing even before she could read. To train her voice, her father let her sing neck-deep in the ocean - supposedly to strengthen her stomach muscles and increase lung power. Today, she credits her vocal abilities to her dad who remains dearly close to her. Her career started in small singing contests all over the country until she won a recording deal with Octoarts. The rest, as they say is history.
Other interesting facts about Regine Velasquez:
- In 1991, she performed an outstanding performance at the Carnegie Hall, one of the most prestigious venues in the world for classical and popular music. She was the first solo Filipino act there.
- In her career she has joined about 200 competitions and won 60 of them.
- She directed most of her own music videos, concerts and TV shows.
- She does her own makeup.
-After seven years of being together, Regine and Ogie Alcasid (another Filipino singer-songwriter), announced their engagement at a noontime show.
They got married on December 22, 2010 in Nasugbu, Batangas, Philippines.
Listen to PinoyTunes the Podcast's episode on Regine Velasquez:
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