It was a peaceful Sunday night at Harbourfront in Singapore, but inside Neverland II club at St James Power Station, avid UDD fans and listeners gathered together screaming as Up Dharma Down performed for a one-night only show.
The crowd swooned as UDD performed their hit songs, and crooned together with the band when they performed the national anthem of Filipinos in love-Tadhana. As Armi Millare, Carlos Tanada, Ean Mayor, and Paul Yap exited the stage, the crowd shouted for more and chanted “Oo! Oo! Oo!”
Photo by Jensen Ching for www.Bandwagon.asia
The band did not disappoint as they went back onstage to perform their latest song All The Good Things, which they shot the video for in Singapore. When they finally sang Oo, the crowd went crazy. OFWs in Singapore, and those who travelled all the way from Malaysia, went home smiling that night having had a chance to hear UDD live.
Up Dharma Down is known for their one-of-a-kind sound, soulful music and poignant lyrics that everyone can relate to. How do they create such unforgettable masterpieces? migme’s Reia Ayunan arms herself with fan questions and finds out from Armi and Carlos.
What were you thinking when you were writing the song Tadhana?
ARMI: I was climbing a mountain, and I was thinking about the way I was feeling. And since the song is about wanting to directly tell somebody how I was feeling at the time but I could not, I just thought I’d write it.
What was your experience in making your latest video which was shot in Singapore?
ARMI: The memorable part for me, when shooting the video, is the very last part. We were at Gardens by the Bay, and I was telling the boys, “y’know when we’re really old, and we’re wrinkled and retired, I’ll feel really nostalgic about it”.
CARLOS: At that time we were all listening to upbeat music, we were excited to come up with something more upbeat rather than the usual dark. Actually, shooting the video, I had fun watching the crew. It was my first time getting to work with a foreign production team. We saw how so few people do so much. We got used to a lot of people and a lot of things happening.
ARMI: There was only like five of them, uhhh.. no 3… 3 or 5 and that is for the smaller parts of the video. For the grander shoot, it take many people as well but they had their own job. So there was one job specifically doing the crane shot, so that was his job.
What is the effect of Oo on your band, and how it manage to stand through all these years?
CARLOS: That song is more than 12 years old. It is getting more popular surprisingly. The effect is everyone still knows the song until now. Instead of exploding in the scene in 2005, it creeped in slowly into everyone’s laptops.
ARMI: There’s a good steady progression. Back in the day, we didn’t really get that much airplay. We’re at the brink or the advent of technology. The Internet was becoming readily available to everybody, they’re slowly having Internet connection. Everybody could get mp3s, and then social media is a part of it. Somebody takes a video, and their friends start to like it and asks them “who’s that?” and they share it. But at the same time, there is something very Filipino about the song, because we’re very shy people and I think that’s what resonates with them.
This story is from social entertainment portal https://mig.me.
