ROCK DOWNSOUTH

Rock and roll was christened by Allan Freed, a disc jockey who picked up the term from the ghetto where it was used as an expression for sexual intercourse. From then on, it became a musical melting pot for many styles –hard, psychedelic, raga, soul, acid- all centred in the relentless beat, amplified instruments, subtle recording techniques and inane and mostly morally questionable lyrics. Categorically, this music is associated mainly with promiscuous sex, drugs, occult and anti-Christianity, violence and revolution gyrating in sex and writhing in violence. As the former rock musician Bob Larson would say it, a variety of rhythmic techniques can turn just about any song into rock and roll.

Bamboo Spliff – Cebuano reggae musicians hold a concert in tribute to Bob Marley

Rock has, of course, influenced the musical arena down south.

Through their nominations at the NU Rock Awards a few years ago, the new wave-influenced post-punk rock Sheila and The Insects was made known to Manila with the single “Everyday Drive”.

The abstract metal five-man piece Faspitch has earned the loyalty of many rock heads both in and out of the country by coming up with The Future of Ear Repair, an album that paved their way as a contender to the 2006 World Battle of the Bands Competition.

Another geared up, home-grown and also international Cebuano act, Urbandub, has penetrated the national scene by playing reggae during their apprentice days and later on developed into a rock unit with the advent of the albums Influence and Embrace.

The Ambassadors, which is more on punk, has also made it to the national scene along with Urbandub and Faspitch. At present they are still significant during gigs and concerts usually held in bars during the weekends and in school occasions as well.

Cebuano band, D’ Ambassadors, perfoming live at the Esplanade outdoor stage

August of last year, the psychedelic Cebuano rock group Picture Filled has released their first album Away From Taciturn, which was preceded by their singles “Revenge on the Light” and “Breathing Room”.These outfits are making the most of every advantage to bring Cebuano music to the open. Numerous Cebuano underground rock bands to date, mostly composed of the young and excited kids in the city, are on the rise, recording original compositions to show their support for the local scene.

Cebu has also another sound. It is a mainstream genre but is often misunderstood. It is Bisrock. The tempo and sound combination are still influenced by other genres but the lyricism is in Bisaya which is the Visayan language or the Cebuano vernacular.

Urbandub – Sweat on her forehead

The inception of this phenomenon was actually around 1980s but its popularity was still discreet not until 2002 with the advent of the Bisrock band Missing Filemon. Other groups with the same genre are Phylum, Smooth Friction, Enchi, Aggressive Audio and Scrambled Eggs. These bands are spreading their sound not just in the Visayas area but in the Mindanao parts as well. It’s hard for Bisrock to penetrate Luzon due to language difference. Bands wanting to make it big Manila, the capital, would make English the lyrics template of their compositions.