TWANG MAGAZINE REPORTS ON KENYO

Any self-proclaimed music lover would just love to soak in our musical culture, as we are probably the original melting pot of all influences-- one look at our history will convince you of this. From melodic conventionality to the left scales of experimental music, we have it all for you, like the former tagline of a popular mall. Unfortunately, as with any music scene, we have repeat upon repeat of sounds leaving the listener dazed, confused in taste, and ready to treat the hash of colorful sounds out there into a wad of ambient music set at the back of mind, out of consciousness.

In the midst of this morass of sights and sounds, though, there are flashes of brilliant audio color, in particular one band hailing from the outskirts of Manila—Bulacan, the nearest Northern province to the Capital. Aptly named Kenyo, the shortened colloquial term for ‘Bulakenyo’ denoting the place of origin (*Author note: all band members are from Bulacan). Their music comes across chameleonic in style, as they can seem to have leanings towards the 60’s hippy trippish sound, folkish, thumpy rock, electronic, riffic and edgy (and at times poignantly sweet. Yes, sweet.). Their music can encompass so many moods and music trips its well worth watching them live, just to see how this description lives up to their name.

Components of the band are Mcoy Fundales (vocals/guitars), Ace del Mundo (guitars),JM del Mundo (bass guitars), Cleng Ocampo (guitars) and Ariz Villalon (drums/percussions). These 5 talented artists have already one album under their belts named Radiosurfing, promoted not only here in our beloved crazy country but also in the US by way of a California tour last 2008. Currently they are involved in the creation and release of a second album stretching the edges of their musical realities called Maharlika. Funnily enough, this word in Filipino is often misunderstood as being of a noble or royal class. Its actual meaning is a great work--- the piece de resistance, if you will, of an artist’s span of creations—think of the Taj Mahal, or the wondrous monstrosity of our 90 degree u-turn-flyovers (isn’t it better to think an evil genius of an artist cooked this up rather than an incompetent government official?). In whichever case it will be used, it is still an apt definition of what Kenyo’s managed to cook up for their second breath of air, music worthy of melodic elite with the capability to tease your senses into a display of multicolored fragments.