The Blues Sounds Good in Pinoy Hands
By Bert B. Sulat Jr.
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Filed Under: Music, Entertainment (general)
“Blueskrieg”
Various Artists
Rebolusyon Rekords/Vicor
“Blueskrieg” was the moniker for a multiband blues show in 1995 at Club Dredd. A decade and many such gigs later, the event’s impresario, Gerry Diwa, produced “Blueskrieg,” an album containing 15 “original Pilipino blues music” by five bands: Plug, Snakecharmer, Firebottle, Dahon and Kulukati.
These livewire groups may be classified along the blues-rock stripe, as opposed to the straightforward-blues type. As such, while traditional blues elements like the 12-bar structure and down-and-out lyricism are perceptible here, so are rock flourishes ranging from Southern rock, classic rock, even funk and Pinoy rock. Any sonic apparitions of the blues’ forebears tend to get buried in the hodgepodge of influences that echo the Rolling Stones, Sly and the Family Stone, The Black Crowes, The Cult, Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Juan de la Cruz.
Blues purists may snicker, but for the “Blueskrieg” bands, blistering guitar solos, resounding howls and loud volume still rule—especially in the case of Snakecharmer. The album’s significance lies in the thought that the blues, as an essentially Afro-American genre, sounds pretty good as well in Pinoy hands.
