A House Music Renaissance Begins (As published in Manila Standard Today - F eb 6, 2010) It was all clear blue skies and gentle breezes last Sunday afternoon when Jojo Flores performed poolside at the Mandarin Oriental, Manila. A native Filipino raised in Montreal, Canada, and one of the top international house music DJs in the world, Jojo Flores took the city by storm and wowed the city’s trendsetters as they danced, sang, and even swam into the night. “It’s been a long time coming and Jojo’s finally here,” said Passion’s Kristian Hernandez who co-organized the event along with his partner Gusty Au and MUSIC & WINE’s Elian Habayeb and Ines Cabarrus. “This is the beginning of a house music renaissance for Manila that Jojo Flores is igniting,” he said with a proud grin. From the looks of it, Hernandez is right. Jojo Flores’s trip to Manila has brought an unprecedented number of serious house-heads and curious music lovers together to hear his award-winning brand of jazzy and soulful afro-latin house music. Having performed in Sydney, Melbourne, and Singapore the previous week, Jojo Flores checked in at the Mandarin Oriental on Sunday and made his way down to the pool where fans and memb ers of th e press swarmed him, got their photos taken with him, and even got their CDs autographed. Donning a Gotsoul Records t-shirt (his record company) and his signature hat, Flores got on the decks and played the latest house bangers as well as classic remixes of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, and Sade. Flores also rocked the dance floor at Amber on Tuesday night (one ticket got guests into both events and included his latest mixed CD) with at times a different more techy sound more appropriate for a club setting. (To listen to the recorded set from that evening, tune in to www.musicandwineradio.com) Finally, Flores made a surprise appearance at M Café on Thursday and performed once again to adoring fans, this time also playing a selection of soul, hip-hop, jazz, and even some reggae. In attendance were some of Manila's most stylin': events maven Cacay Moras, columnists Pepper Teehankee and JR Isaac, the lovely Sunshine De Leon, Kate Moynihan, and Svenja Dieckhoff, DJs Ms Badkiss and Benjo Marquez, models Rubyanne Chin and Brenda Bustamante, men-about-town Chris Butt, Mike Ellis and Antonio Ressano, sexy doctor Olivia Francisco, hunks Andrew Baltazar and Jinno Rufino, Discovery’s Ferdi Salvador, Saj Jesri, Mandarin Oriental’s Erika Aquino, Tribu Manila’s Stefan Lowerstein and Mackey Maguigad, and M Café proprietors Martin and Michael Wisniewski. Manila has not seen such a vibrant, energetic week of music in years. “I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of these parties!” says Gutsy Au. We agree. Contact MUSIC & WINE’s Elian Habayeb and Ines Cabarrus at musicandwine.manila@gmail.com or visit them at their weekly social event Saturdays at Martinis in the Mandarin Oriental.
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