The CompanY on constant reinvention

The CompanY (Photo by Bhenj Agustin)

No other Pinoy vocal group today has achieved as much as The CompanY – and that’s a humbling thought, actually.

“Kasi ang totoo – at sinasabi din namin eto sa mga estudyante namin – mas maraming magaling pero just always tell yourself that I have something unique to offer. Yun ‘yung tamang balance ng pag-acknowledge kung ano ka,” said The CompanY member Sweet Plantado to that effect in a recent interview.

Knowing both their strengths and weaknesses has seen them through shifting trends without awkwardness. Moy Ortiz said that if they sing, say, Nicki Minaj or Bruno Mars these days, it’s not about “nakikiuso” but both artistic and business decision, and in that order.

“You must know what you’re good at and try to adapt it to the whims and the taste of the times,” he said. “It’s a very tricky situation (that requires) a balancing act… we’re proud that the group is very flexible vocally. We do contemporary songs but not plakado.”

In the beginning, The CompanY stuck with mostly jazz repertoire. But for a long time now, they have opened their minds and ears to the fact that there’s great music happening all the time, Moy added.

This versatility has brought The CompanY a ton of awards, the honor to perform many times with top-caliber artists, and hit songs to boot across several decades.

Fortunately, their audience allows them to remain relevant at all times; people who go with CompanY wherever they direct their journey.

Annie Quintos said, “We’ve been blessed that we have a nice core group that like the sound we bring out as we try to reinvent ourselves kahit paano to address both the young and the not-so-young basta lang makapa naman ang tamang presentation (of versions they do).”

The next part in the trip is a series of shows in the US. This month, The CompanY invades the US as guests to Songbird Regine Velasquez’s US Tour. These are on Oct. 26 (Orange Country Fair and Events Center, Orange County, California), Oct. 27 (Solano County Fairgrounds, Vallejo, California), and Nov. 3 (Mohegan Sun, Connecticut).

Have they ever thought of retiring? Sweet said that as long as people believe in them, then “i-enjoy lang namin, hindi kami mag-stop to work on something new.”

Good to hear.

The CompanY on constant reinvention

Source: Mb.com.ph (October 26, 2013 at 08:00AM)

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