By Stella Marie Avila
Tucked in San Antonio Village in Makati City along Guijo Street is an unassuming building that serves as a witness of how seemingly ordinary musical acts become artistic performances. In saGuijo music bar , music is treated like an intricate tapestry, and the audience is treated to a diverse range of music.
saGuijo is a hub for aspiring artists and music lovers who are eager to explore music that is not bound by limitations and the pressure to give out something that is commercially acceptable.
It is for music lovers who do not just come to see guitarists bang their heads but to be awed by percussionists who can whip performances that allow the listeners’ hearts to follow the beat of the drum.
The underground scene has never been this alive, even commercially-successful bands play here. saGuijo shuns anything mediocre by tapping into every music genre that results in a gig schedule that is as diverse as Salvador Dali’s paintings – alternative, jazz, blues, metal, rock and bossa nova.
The nights are far from another ho-hum event where bands scream until their voice become hoarse and the guitar riffs were like knives cutting into a rusty chunk of metal.
I was able to witness one great night of jamming, which was a tribute to Britpop. The featured acts so diverse that one band covered a Spice Girls original that actually sounded better. It is during nights like these that bands aren’t expected to conform with the mainstream.
Tribute nights at saGuijo aren’t tributes to the bands or to an era, it’s more of a tribute to the music’s diversity and the performing bands’ talents to encompass what was obvious and turn the songs into something fresh.
Nights at saGuijo basically start at 9 PM, a time when corporate slaves like me stretch after a few hours of fussing over grammar and style in front of a computer and decide that a couple of cold beers and a few hours of real music is just the ticket before heading to bed.
Beers range from the masa’s San Miguel beer to a few high-end brand. Another proof that this music bar is open to every one of any social background. Because, hey, music is a universal language.
This Friday night I’ve been chillin’ on Ice cold San Mig Light and the music of Up Dharma Down, one of the top new Filipino bands around. Good beer and tuning to great music, what more can I ask for?
Next time you’re out on a Friday night, check out saGuijo bar in San Antonio Village, Makati and experience live Filipino music at its best.
About Stella Marie Avila: .
July 5th, 2007 at 10:38 am
[…] The band started out in the underground scene, playing in Saguijo, Mayricks and Freedom Bar. According to their band manager Aspen Sanez, the band’s turning point was when they performed in a gig at Music Museum two years ago, “That was the point where we realized that we could make something out of this, period!” […]
January 11th, 2009 at 8:26 pm
post nio ung last gig ng pupil sandwich sugarfree at itchyworm…sana makatugtog din kmi jan sa saguijo some of these days…