An Oktoberfest Preview (Manila)

Sofitel Philippine Plaza's Mindanao Ballroom

An array of Bavarian sausages

I, together with other media guests, were invited to attend a press conference to be held at the Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Mindanao Ballroom to launch the 2013 Oktoberfest to be held on October 18 and 19 at  the hotel’s newly renovated Harbor Garden Tent. 

The festival started in 1810 when Ludwig, the crown prince of Bavaria, married German Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen on October 12 (some say the 17th).  To celebrate the union, the royal couple organized a horse race and invited some 40,000 citizens of Munich to the fields in front of the city gates called Theresienwiese (Theresa’s meadow).  Since then, the Oktoberfest, now an integral part of the Bavarian culture, has been celebrated annually in Munich.  The festival has also spread throughout other countries, becoming the largest volksfest (people's fair) in the world by 1960.  Here in the country, Germans and Filipinos have been celebrating it for 75 years. 

Beer dispensers and mugs

When we arrived at the ballroom, authentic Oktoberfest tables and benches were already set up, providing a festive beer garden setting.  On stage was a beer mug pyramid and the speaker's podium (fittingly a beer barrel).  

Each table was decorated with miniature Philippine and German flags as well as blue and white Bavarian flags, with cold, refreshing San Miguel beer in beer dispensers and 1-liter mugs (called mass in German) at the middle of the table. 

Joining Ms. Astra Alegre (writer for What's On Expat) and I at our table was celebrity actress G Toengi (now a reporter of Rappler) and her husband Tim Walters. To provide a more complete Oktoberfest  look, we were all waited on by ladies dressed in in dirndl (a traditional Bavarian dress with apron) and gentlemen in lederhosen (leather breeches worn with suspenders) and wearing Bavarian-style Alpine hats.  

Posing with a pair of ladies wearing Bavarian dirndl

G Toengi (left) with Ms. Salvador and Mr. Scheile

Sofitel Gen. Manager Mr. Adam Lasker

Mr. Michael Hasper of the German Embassy

Mr. Michael Scheile and Ms. Eiffelene Salvador

Mr. Adam Lasker, Sofitel Philippine Plaza’s Gen. Manager, welcomed us all in his opening remarks emphasizing how the Oktoberfest has helped promote camaraderie among Filipinos and Germans.  

The hotel has been hosting this Oktoberfest for four straight years now.  Mr. Michael Hasper, Deputy Head of Commission of the German Embassy, also delivered his opening remarks.  Mr. Michael Scheile, the chairman of this year's Oktoberfest, and Ms. Eiffelene Salvador, were our gracious hosts for this afternoon's beer fest.  To get us going and to create an appetite for the delicious Bavarian fare prepared for us, they taught us to dance – the Bavarian way, of course - to the tune of the fliegerlied (So a schöner Tag), the favorite Octoberfest song. 

L-R: Mr. Hasper, Ms. Salvador, Mr. Scheile and Mr. Lasker

The German Pronunciation Contest

Crowd dancing to the tune of the Fliegerlied

Models Ms. Janet Emmrich and Alexandra Salmeron assisted in a contest where participants had to pronounce a German phrase as near to its proper pronunciation as possible. Later on, beer drinking contests (singles and pairs) were also held, adding excitement to the crowd.  Winner were awarded gift certificates. 

The star of any Oktoberfest, aside from the beer and the merriment, is the Bavarian food.  We started our food marathon with the soup (goulashsuppe -goulash soup with a bread selection) followed by appetizers (assorted charcuteries with condiments, a Bavarian cheese delicacy called obatzda, etc.) and salads (cucumber salad with dill, potato salad with smoked sausage and onions, etc.) and carvings (whole ham with beer sauce, chicken from the rotisserie with pepper sauce, etc).

The beer drinking contest

Cucumber salad 

Goulash soup

Our main course consisted of a choice of Bratwurst Ring, Cheese Krainer; Munchner Weisswurst and Bratwurst; and Hungarian sausages (during last year’s Oktoberfest, 3,000 guests consumed 950 kgs. of these sausages), all grilled and served with an assortment of mustard.  

There was also sauerkraut (the most well-known German food) with smoked pork belly; Bavarian meat patty; 2 kinds of Bavarian dumplings (bread dumplings and potato dumplings with croutons) and Lyoner potatoes.

Cheese krainer

Hungarian sausages

Lyoner potatoes

Sauerkraut with smoked 
pork belly

Potato dumplings with 
croutons 

Finally, we topped it all with mouth-watering desserts.  I particularly liked the apfelstrudel (apple strudel or baked apple pie filled with cinnamon, raisins and roasted bread crumbs) with vanilla sauce.

I also tried sachertorte (a chocolate cake, or torte, invented by Austrian Franz Sacher in 1832 for Prince Wenzel von Metternich) and Bayerische creme (rather like a cooked custard made with egg yolks, gelatin and whipped cream) with strawberries.

Apple strudel with vanilla sauce

For inquiries, please call the German Club at telephone numbers (632) 817-3552 of 818-4236 (for entry and raffle tickets) or Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel at (632) 832-6988 and (632) 551-5555 ext. 6988 (for room reservation).  You can also email them at germanclub@germanclub.ph or fbreservations@sofitelmanila.com. 

During the festival, the hotel is offering a special rate of PhP5,000 net for a Superior Room, with a hearty and lavish breakfast at Spiral for an additional PhP1,200 net per person. 

Sachertorte

This year grand celebration also includes a raffle draw with over PhP4 million worth of major and minor prizes donated by sponsors (round trip, business-class tickets to Germany via Etihad; Mercedes Benz weekend drives with overnight stay in Baguio City; laptops, Canon DSLR cameras; Mac I-Pads; Levi’s jeans; Puma shirts; etc.)). Proceeds go to the German Club’s welfare projects.  

The Bloomfields, one of Manila’s best live bands, will be dishing out good, old retro 1960s rock-and-roll music on October 19.  Oktoberfest will also be celebrated at the Crimson Resort & Spa at Mactan Island, Cebu on October 25.

Jazzing Up Manila - The CCP Way

CCP President Raul Sunico

For the second time around, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP) will gather more than 100 jazz artists and 15 bands from the Philippines and all over the world (U.S.A., Europe and Asia) as they perform jazz music, in all its styles (from the big band, swing, blues, fusion and experimental) from  September 17-22, during the 2nd CCP International Jazz Festival to be held at two venues of the CCP. 

The first international jazz festival, billed The Story of Jazz: 1st CCP International Jazz Festival, was held last August 2011. The festival will also feature workshops and lectures on the various jazz genres. 

In addition, partnerships with some hotels (Bayview Hotel, Diamond Hotel, Manila Hotel, Sofitel Philippine Plaza Manila and Traders Hotel) will enable some of the festival performers to provide a sampling of their expertise in these venues.  Aside from these hotels, other sponsors on the festival are the U.S. Embassy; the P.I. Jazzfest Foundation; radio stations Crossover 105.1 Manila, Radio High 105.9 FM, Manila Broadcasting Company, DZRH, 96.3 Easy Rock and Yes FM; cable TV channels Living Asia Channel and Lifestyle Network; business dailies Business Mirror and Business World; music stores JB Music and Lyric Microphone; local daily The Manila Times; news portal Philstar.com; magazines Highlife Magazine, Gala Magazine, Graphic and View; and the Filipina professional site Herword.com.   

Anything Goes Jazz Group

In a recent lunchtime press conference held at the Millennium Hall of the Manila Hotel, we were treated to a sampler of what to expect as some of the Filipino festival participants performed a number of jazz pieces.  Humanfolk, with Mr. Johhny Alegre (guitar), Jay Ronquillo (bass) and Mr. Jun Viray (drums), performed the Herbie Hancock-composed jazz fusion standard “Cantaloupe Island.”  

This was was followed up by a solo piano performance by Mr. Emy Munji who performed “Laura,” adapted from the theme of the 1944 movie with the same name. Finally, The Anything Goes Jazz Group, with Mr. Michael Puyat (vocals), Mr. Bobbet Bernadas (bass) and Mr. Archie Lacorte (saxophone), rendered their version of “The Lady is a Tramp,” a Richard Rodgers swing anthem from the 1937 Broadway musical “Babes in Arms.” 

Emy Munji

According to Mr. Raul Sunico, CCP President and an internationally-known pianist himself, the festival is “A recognition of the jazz genre as a major style of musical creativity through improvisation as well as the distinct theories in its harmonic, scalar, and rhythmic components that are both appealing and inviting to the listener.”  

He further stated that “The global attraction of jazz has reached a wide spectrum of enthusiasts, including Asia where its own brand of Eastern and ethnic music seems to fuse well with its style" Sunico also said that "Through the festival, CCP hopes to bring the Philippines into the mainstream of global jazz activity and make it a legitimate and recognized venue for international jazz festivals." Another objective the CCP hopes to achieve, according to Mr. Sunico, is that, thorough this jazz festival, it would “Create a harmonious relationship among the country's jazz figures and groups.” "

With the establishment of so many of these ensembles, it is imperative for the CCP to provide a prestigious venue for our talents to perform and be discovered, to play and to listen, to seek a camaraderie with which to collaborate with other groups, and to help propagate this wonderful musical genre for everyone to enjoy," Sunico also said. 

Humanfolk

Sandra Lim-Viray

Performers and groups whose production and equipment set-up would call for a larger stage and expected audience size will perform at the CCP’s Tanghalang Nicanor Abelardo.  On September 17 opening date will feature Blood Drum Spirit (U.S.A.), headliner of the 2011 CCP Jazz Festival; Malaysian acoustic guitar player Roger Wang; Indonesian guitarist Wayan Balawan and local performers Brown Fix, bossa nova artist Sitti and the Brass Munkeys.  

On September 20, Italian accordionist, pianist and guitarist Fabio Turchetti and prominent Japanese jazz vocalist Charito as well as local artists AMP Big Band and the previously mentioned Humanfolk will next take the stage.  The next day, it will be the turn of the Dutch quartet Buzz Bros Band and local artists Akasha, UP Jazz Ensemble and the 25-piece PYSB Jazz Big Band. Blood Drum Spirit and local artist Bob Aves and the UST Jazz Band perform on September 22, the last day of the festival.

Raul Sunico (at left) with guest performers

The Silangan Hall, on the other hand, will cater to jazz aficionados who prefer a more intimate setting. On September 18, Argentinian/Spanish jazz guitarist Neris Gonzalez and Japanese jazz artist Sin Kikuta, together with local jazz performer Sandra Lim-Viray, Low-Cal Jazz Ensemble and the previously-mentioned Anything Goes Jazz Group open the festival at this hall.  

The next day, it’s the turn of the previously-mentioned Fabio Turchetti and  Blood Drum Spirit and the Bandung Blues Project of Indonesia, and local performers Majam and the previously-mentioned Emi Munji and his orchestra.  Blue Drum Spirit and local performer Blue Sub closes the festival at this hall on September 21.

For more tickets and information, please call the CCP Box Office at tel. no. 832-1125 local 1409 and 832-3704 (direct line).  You can also visit the CCP website at www.culturalcenter.gov.ph.  All shows start at 7:30 PM except for the final September 22 show which starts at 9:30 PM. 

Concert Review: Pet Shop Boys Live in Manila

The Pet Shop Boys - Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe

The Venetian blind projection screen

The one night only Pet Shop Boys concert, held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, was presented by Ovation Productions.  This concert was to promote this duo's triumphant comeback via their 12th, and newest, studio album “Electric” (which boasts the singles “Vocal” and “Axis”). 

Since its release last July 12, “Electric” reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart in its first week of release, their highest album position since the 1993 release of “Very.”  

Aside from Manila, the “Electric World Tour,” which commenced in Mexico last March, also included stops at Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Turkey, Europe, Israel, Indonesia, China and Thailand, the last three Asian countries for the first time. 

The sizable crowd that watched the concert

This was to be the phenomenal electronic synth-pop duo's first ever visit to Manila.  The Pet Shop Boys, 3-time Brit Award winner (including for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 2009) and 6-time Grammy Award nominee, have, since 1985, spawned 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart and have sold more than 50 million records worldwide.  In fact, they are listed, by The Guinness Book of Records, as the most successful duo in UK music history. 

 The sizable, middle age crowd queuing for entry into the coliseum also included a number of senior citizens and even some who weren’t even born in the 1980s, the decade when the Pet Shop Boys began to leave their mark on the music scene. 

The duo wearing bull-shaped headdresses

The colorful lighting

The concert opened with entry of the cerebral, articulate, loquacious and now bald and bulky Neil Tennant who, with his winsome, wistful and high-pitched voice, started off with “Opportunities – Let’s Make Lots of Money,” with  the terse yet flippant and casual Chris Lowe (almost always seen in his trademark attire of hat and impenetrable sunglasses) handling the keyboards and computer board, all the while just standing still. 

This opening number was followed by the songs "Memory of the Future," "Fugitive," "Integral" and "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing," after which, the tempo was raised a number of notches with "Suburbia,"  the audience rising on their feet for the first (and not the last) time. The laser light show, featuring intermittent blasts of dazzling laser light effects (provided by ER Productions), commenced with the song "I'm Not Scared" and "It Doesn't Often Snow at Christmas."  The next was an anti-war track from the "Electric" album called "The Last to Die," a cover of Bruce Springsteen's 2008 song.

The dazzling laser lights

Next was the song "Somewhere," the Pet Shop Boy's version of a West Side Story song, followed by "Leaving," "Thursday" (a new "Electric" song featuring a lively rap interlude from British recording artist Example and a memorable and catchy "stay for the weekend" chorus), "Love, Etc.," "I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)" and "Miracle." 

Again, the duo raise the notch higher with a bevy of dance anthems to end the show - “Rent,” “It’s a Sin,” "Domino Dancing," the Village People cover "Go West" and  “Always on My Mind.” All these songs animated the crowd who responded with emotional fervor.   Of course, what is a concert without an encore.  After a clamor for more, the duo responded with  “West End Girls,” their most heard of song to date, plus the latest "Electric" single "Vocal" to end the hour and a half concert.  However, I was slightly disappointed that they didn't play the other Pet Shop Boys hits such as "Heart," "Love Comes Quickly" and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"

The duo wearing their straw jackets

Chris and his mirror ball hat

All throughout  the concert, the duo made a number of costume changes, donning unique, avant-garde, extravagant and neon-intensive costumes, creations of costume designer Jeffrey Bryant, that could be defined as futuristic, wacky, mad and vibrant. It included jackets made completely from straws.  

They also changed wigs, headdress (including a bull-shaped piece to simulate minotaurs) and hats (including a mirror ball hat that, when hit by a spotlight, illuminated the coliseum).  Even when the duo were not on stage during costume changes, their pre-programmed electronic music still throbbed, pulsed and hammered away.

The upright beds

The giant projection screen, behind the open stage, is mapped on to a variety of surfaces including strategically-placed gauzes, set items and a back wall built to look like an enormous Venetian blind (or V blinds as they came to be known), created by Total Solutions, which opens and closes as part of the show. 

The first gauze, which goes up for the first three tracks, almost acts as a TV screen for the duo to perform behind.  The giant projection surface also disappears, in the blink of an eye, to reveal a wall of lights and strobes and then returns, as if by magic.  There are also rolling set piece performance spaces including an upright bed, which the duo stands in, which later revolves to become dance booths.  Aside from the duo, joining them on stage are 2 dancers, in peculiar headgear, who throw contemporary dance shapes, prance about and even ride on pogo sticks.

A combination of strobe lights and lasers

The resulting vibrant and pop-influenced show had everything; colorful lighting, vast projection screens with artily crafted images, content, incredible choreography, blasts of glittery confetti all over the stage (from cannons in the pit), a smoke machine, the hits and new songs (all delivered with character and conviction by Neil), plus it was full of energy.  Altogether, the concert was such a great show, more an art and design or theater-based production (created with acclaimed opera and theatrical designer Es Devlin), an unusual combination of concert, West End musical and art installation, rather than a normal rock music show.  A dazzling feast for the eyes as well as ears.

Tara Na Sa Norte (Manila)

Tara na sa Norte Tourism and Travel Fair

Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) booth

The much-anticipated, 3-day“Tara Na Sa Norte” ("Let's Go North") Tourism and Travel Fair 2013, at the Atrium of Robinson’s Place in Ermita, is organized by North Philippines Visitors Bureau and Manila North Tollways Corp. (MNTC), the builder and concessionaire of the 84-km., world-class  North Luzon Expressway (NLEX) which has been connected with the 93.7-km. Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway to provide seamless travel between Metro Manila and Central Luzon.  

The MNTC, via this tourism project, helps the 4 northern Philippine regions promote their destinations and attractions. This travel fair is a follow-up to the MNTC’s successful “Rediscovering the North” which sought to rekindle Filipinos’ fondness for North Luzon’s favorite tourism destinations. MNTC is also the organizer of the past Lakbay Norte, a media familiarization tour which I joined in 2011. 

Ilocos Region booth

Central Luzon booth

Air Asia booth

Cebu Pacific Air booth

The Department of Tourism (DOT) regional offices in Region 1 (Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, La Union and Pangasinan), Region 2 - Cagayan Valley (Batanes, Cagayan, Isabela, Nueva Vizcaya, Quirino); Region 3 - Central Luzon (Aurora, Bulacan, Clark Special Economic Zone, Nueva Ecija, Pampanga, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority and Tarlac); and the Cordillera Administrative Region - CAR (Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Mountain Province), each had their own display booths that feature popular, new and emerging tourism destinations and attractions that are unique to each region. 

First started in 2009 and now on its 5th year, the fair featured audio-visual presentations by the exhibitors and included such special events as corporate fun game shows (Air Asia, Cebu Pacific Air and Easytrip); raffle draws of airline tickets and other gift certificates from hotels and resorts; a tourism quiz bee  challenge, band music (Stonefish band), a flairtending exhibition ("Shake, Roll and Flair") and marketing and product presentations.  Low season tour packages and airfares plus other special deals also awaited those who visited the booths during this event weekend.

Cebu Pacific Air Fun Games

The exhibitors include local government units (the City of Alaminos and the province of La Union); airlines (Air Asia, Cebu Pacific Air); hotels (Microtel Inns and Suites, Fersal Hotel Group, Java Hotel, Subic Bay Travelers Hotel and Events Center, Plaza del Norte, Terrace and Bayfront Hotel, Court Meridian Hotel and Suites, Subic International Hotel, etc.); resorts (Lighthouse Marina Resort, Punta Riviera Resort, Puerto del Sol, etc.); tour organizers (Treetop Adventures, Easy Trip); government agencies (Camp John Hay, Philippine Retirement Authority,  Tourism Infrastructure and Enterprise Zone Authority); theme parks (Dinoisland/Clarkland, Dasoland, etc.); real estate companies (Azalea Residences); cellular networks (Sun Cellular); food manufacturing companies (Pampanga’s Best, Sweet Heaven Food Products); cottage industries (Edver Footwear, Edwarson Leathercraft, D5L Embroidery, NEEDCO, EM Leathercraft, Izumi Designs, etc.)  and the Tarlac and Nueva Ecija convention and visitors bureaus, among others.

Exhibitors

North Luzon Expressway booth

The fair is sponsored by Cebu Pacific, Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA), Maynilad Water Inc. and Smart Communications, and supported by Robinsons Land Corp. and North Philippines Visitors Bureau (NPVB), and managed by the Philippine Exhibits and Themeparks Corp. (PETCO).

Ms. Grace Ayento (MNTC Sen. Marketing Mgr.), at left,
presenting certificates to exhibitors