Throwback 3 : Road to Konsyerto Pinoy Channel - Parada ng Musika (Music Parade)

In an earlier post,  I wrote that my first musical video was Rizal Park's dancing fountain show. Right after the 2011 People Power Revolution/EDSA 1 anniversary, I was recording scenes for Hearts 2011 What's Love? video.  Having just finished my video shots of the unveiled statues of EDSA 1 heroes near Manila Hotel, I passed by the central section of Rizal Park (previously known and referred to as Luneta) on my way home. I noticed lots of people in the area watching some water fountain action synchronized with the background music.  Amazed by what I saw and attracted to the music being played by the public audio system, I stayed to record the dancing fountain show.

After reviewing the show footage, I chose to feature Journey's song Don't Stop Believin' which was interpreted by the Glee cast. Although there exists a Youtube search page category "Rizal Park Dancing Fountain" where you can see all the videos about the park's dancing fountain, I did not know of such page at that time.  Instead, I thought of a video concept which will attract the viewers.

The concept was a trilogy of songs - similar to a good, better and  best concept. In this case, it was a teaser, excerpt and entire featured songs concept.  Aside from Journey's song, I selected two more songs from the recorded footage. After completing the featured songs list, I used two downloaded songs (which were not part of the show) for the opening and closing credits. Opening credits song was Rico J. Puno's version of The Way We Were with the famous phrase "Namamasyal pa sa Luneta ng walang pera." translated "Strolling in Luneta even without money" and closing credits song was an instrumental version of O Sole Mio played by an orchestra. Within the day after uploading, Youtube informed me that the video cannot be played anywhere due to the copyrighted songs.

At that time, copyrighted songs were not specified so I just took out the opening and closing credit songs. After uploading the revised version, Youtube again informed me of a "Matching Third Party Content" message and my video was blocked in Germany.  Being ignorant about Copyrights, I disputed the claim since my belief ,at that time, was that a copyrighted song when used with permission will not be blocked anywhere. For sure, I said to myself, Rizal Park administration (National Parks Development Committee NPDC Philippines) will not use any music without paying royalties to the copyright owner,  Thus, my video should not be blocked anywhere. Of course, the dispute was rejected and ,from then on, I learned more importantly that the Owner has always the prerogative on the use of a copyrighted song.

With a failed initial upload and a Germany-blocked second upload of Rizal Park Dancing Fountain, I felt frustrated and took awhile to create another musical video.  However, true to my inner core, I incorporated "fair share" music in my videos.  From Youtube, I learned that an uploader is allowed to use "tiny bits/portions" of  a song without negative impact on a video (like blocking viewership or muting of audio).

It was December 2011 when my cousin Caloy took part in a trade fair at the car park of Boom na Boom which is a known theme park in Pasay City. One weekend while visiting Kuya Caloy's stall, I learned that there was a dance contest during the trade fair period.  That night, five dance groups competed for a slot in the contest finals.  I was able to watch and record ,excerpts of, the semi-final round of the contest.

Together with my nephew's wife Sheila, we coached three kids - my youngest nephew Kenneth and my grandchildren Frances and Quino to sit on the judges' table after the show. This cute scene was my subtle way of reminding people that the most objective judges are the innocent ones - the  kids who are expected to know No politics and to have No hidden agenda.

Still avoiding the setbacks of my first musical video, I incorporated the Fair's location, area and main feature (the stalls) in the video and made the contest performance as the video climax. Also, I included "Boom" songs which have the word Boom in their titles since the recorded place was Boom na Boom. For the initial song, I mixed Black Eyed Peas' Boom Boom Pow with the instrumental portion of Donna Summer's Bad Girls. For the closing credits, I included Blondie's hit song Call Me. After I finished the video, I uploaded Boom na Boom Night Market Park and Sell Special in the "Travel and Events" category rather than "Entertainment".

Once uploaded, I immediately checked any copyright notice and was very nervous since Boom na Boom video might be a "Deja Vu" of the Rizal Park Dancing Fountain video. The first couple of nights after the upload were exciting and very encouraging since ,for the first time, I witnessed that my video was being watched by a dozen people by the hour. As a new uploader (nearly a year), I felt the satisfaction that no monetary reward can give. The hourly increase in views was the best Christmas 2011 gift I received. Until now, I feel happy when there's a continuous rise in the view count of my videos immediately after an upload. On the contrary, when I have uploaded a noteworthy video and no view is incurred, I still get disappointed.

Encouraged by the decent view count of my first dance video and by the spirit of the Christmas 2011 season, I got the confidence to record another musical video - my very first mall and instrumental video.  In fact, I proudly consider this video's musical artists  who are three (3) instrumentalists as my first video talents. When I asked the trio's lovely and gifted pianist/leader Ms. Zarah Bertulfo for their name, Zarah called her group Heart AND Soul which included herself, impressive musicians Mr. Ray Ama and Mr. Vic San Juan.

The mall where I recorded this video is Robinsons Place Manila RPM which I refer to as "Entertainment Centerstage". Though Glorietta Mall had more often been my refuge, there was another mall which gave me sanctuary in the latter part of my residence in Manila.  Prior to 2012, it is true that I looked forward to the weekends we spent in Makati City but ,when I was in Manila during weekdays, I felt relieved when I made visits to RPM. When the RPM Midtown Atrium was completed, I just sat down in the lobby seat to relax when I was stressed out. By the turn of the millennium, my mother's health condition deteriorated and ,every time my mother's hospital check-up was finished, we would go to RPM for lunch. This has been the place where my Mother and I could temporarily forget her illness and eat in the selected restaurant or fast food chain of her choice.

Preparing for our 2011 Christmas vacation in Makati City, I made my last minute shopping  at Robinsons Supermarket in RPM on December 23, 2011. On my way out of the mall, I heard jazz arrangements of Christmas and popular songs at the Atrium Lobby. Curiosity dictated me to watch the performance and ,again "for the love of Youtube",  I approached Zarah. and company for permission to record and upload their performance.  I even asked them if they had any formal contract with the mall since the existence of one may require authorization from RPM itself.  Luckily, Zarah and company had  none at that time and agreed to be recorded by yours truly.

Since the crowd numbered a couple of dozen at most,  and the musical session was casual and not a formal concert, I was very comfortable in recording the trio. I experimented with the shots for a couple of songs by revolving around the trio from left to right. In addition, I had to be at the group's front when the Christmas song ended.   Finally, I requested the trio for a separate photo-op which will be used for the video's intro and closing credits.

That generosity which I have received from total strangers will be remembered for a lifetime.  Then, I realized that creation of musical videos was primarily driven by the willingness and generosity of gifted people to share their talents and entertain viewers.  I could now understand the reason why people specially fans admire and put these artists on a pedestal.  Some might call this fanaticism but I would just refer to such as voluntary and selfless payback for the joy brought by these artists/performers. Indeed, the kindness I received from Zarah and her group was a signal to give creating musical videos another try.


The year 2012 came and it established the fundamentals of my musical video creation.  During 2012, I met people, groups, companies and organizations that provided content, materials, recording opportunities, even indirect training and critical support to my video making activities.  Aside from the various artists and performers that included sportspeople who shared their time and talents, and the malls and group of companies which provided the venues, events and video-ops,  I got very valuable support from ,nonetheless, several government agencies/offices  and their personnel like the Cultural Center of the Philippines CCP, National Parks and Development Committee NPDC Philippines, People's Television PTV4 and Paco Park Presents.

Prior to 2012, I did not interact with the entities mentioned above. For now, I mentioned them to make a fast forward narrative on the being of the Konsyerto Pinoy channel.  In a future throwback, I will provide a detailed account of how these entities influenced and provided direction to The Accidental Video Maker. In the meantime,  I will continue to narrate the path to Konyserto Pinoy's being.

With the uploading of dance and instrumental musical videos in 2011, I was eager to create a vocal musical video. Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye Concert enabled me to create not only a vocal but a song and dance or musical variety video. Still, the copyright issues previously encountered lingered  and I remained cautious in the video inclusion of an entire song.  To be on the safe side, I adapted some elements of Boom na Boom Night Market video creation process.

Like Boom na Boom Night Market video, I did refrain from including an entire song and dance number.  The video started with information regarding the location, event and the performance area.  These info were shown to satisfy the "Events" category since Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye was also listed under the "Travel and Events" category. During this time, I intended to create a musical video with the guise of an events video as if by using/specifying a half valid proxy category for a "music/entertainment" category will spare viewership blocking resulting from a copyrighted song.  Thus, like Boom na Boom video with the hanging dance contest outcome "and the winner is ...", Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye have the hanging "Who will win?" questions and an invitation ,as well, to attend the event.

At this time, I had made musical videos for CCP events like Filipiniana Sunsets and Pasinaya Open House Festival. Also, I wanted my first channel (Jakeslanza/JSL then, Jake Lanuza now) to include videos which will highlight the West Manila Bay Entertainment  and Leisure Stretch (from Quirino Grandstand, CCP, Star City, Boom Na Boom up to the SM Mall of Asia Grounds).  Because of these, I started the Aliwan Fiesta 2012 video with the shot of the CCP going to the Aliwan Fiesta grounds or the Star City Complex, to show the continuation of festivals from CCP Pasinaya to Aliwan Fiesta 2012.

The mother of Philippine cultural festivals Aliwan Fiesta had been celebrated for a decade.  As expected, the opening night concert Pasakalye was filled with musical artists.  I had a smooth time recording this event. This particular event, though, had a significant effect on my creation of musical videos.  Since I was using a mobile phone camera, I needed a way to execute a periodic close-up of the performing artist(s).  From the Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye Concert, I met a reliable video recording friend - the Video Wall.  Though the output quality will partly depend on the video wall's cameraman, coordination of shots with the video wall is quite important in mobile video recording especially when the recorder is far from the performer. Without the video wall, a number of my musical videos would not have survived the technical superiority of various recording devices released that year.

Although this video contained a copyrighted song I'm Sexy and I know It, Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye Concert video was not restricted or blocked in a country where my first channel enjoyed significant number of total views -at least 50 views  across all videos for the country at that time. I learned to accept the fact that potential views can be blocked with the presence of a copyrighted song. Until today, I always hope that the area or country where views will be blocked would only provide non-existent or ,at most, negligible view count. As long as the video can be viewed anywhere, and its audio is not muted, I do not consider the copyright notice a problem.

Even if I have gained confidence in creating musical videos some time after Aliwan Fiesta 2012 Pasakalye Concert, there was no plan whatsoever, to set up a concert channel until I had created and uploaded one of my significant 2012 video Kindred Voices @ The Glorietta Makati.  In my opinion, this video was the front runner of the Konyerto Pinoy channel aside from being a milestone in my video making activity and in my first channel.

Kindred Voices @ The Glorietta Makati was not a planned video. I did not have a Facebook FB account last year 2012 to monitor mall events. I learned about Kindred Voices three (3) days before the event from an unlikely source - Events Post in the least visited area of Ayala Triangle Gardens in Makati City. Moreover, it was an accidental discovery due to an unexpected itinerary.

After doing administrative tasks for a cousin's real estate lessor company in Manila,  I returned to Makati City to purchase medicines for my mother at a Drug Store in Glorietta. For some vague reason, the air-conditioned bus I rode from Manila to Ayala Avenue in Makati City did not traverse its usual route.  As a result, I had to prematurely get-off from the bus near Ayala Triangle Gardens and pass by the area.  While walking at the Ayala Triangle Gardens area, I noticed a poster in the Events Post and stopped by to read the poster. The poster advertised  a Lea Salonga concert at the Greenbelt Mall titled Kindred Voices. Since there was no ticket requirement specified, I decided to watch the show of an internationally acclaimed artist.

Performance night came and I proceeded to Greenbelt Mall. In another unexpected turn of events, the Kindred Voices Concert with Lea Salonga was moved to Glorietta that night. Good thing Glorietta is just a minute's walk away from Greenbelt.  With the new venue, more people were able to watch the concert aside from the guests/audience in the reserved seats area.  For one thing, I was not familiar with the mall mechanics of securing tickets for such concert at that time. I just asked some ladies from the event organizers' desk if I can record the show.   They answered on the affirmative and I just recorded the concert as soon as Maestro Gerard and ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra hit the notes.

After the concert, I was able to immediately upload the "Encore" portion.  Then, I edited and organized the concert proper footage, and uploaded the created video.  I did not immediately publish the main concert video since there was another Kindred Voices (with Nikki Gil and Blake) performance still to be finished that week. After the last Glorietta performance night, I published the concert video. With encouraging view count and feedback, I was just looking forward to record one or two more shows until the end of 2012.

Establishing another Youtube channel was not in my radar system at that time,  I was content in reading the feedback and in monitoring the view counts of the uploaded main concert and encore videos. Then, the new channel idea just popped out. The trigger point was a comment made by a viewer "nice x-mas concert..luv it...". The idea of  a 'Pinoy Concert Channel' crossed my mind for a second.  Then, I shot it down since I still wanted to create videos of diverse genre.  However, at the back of my mind, several questions were raised. Do I need another channel? Can I maintain two channels?  Will a second channel be viable? For what purpose is the second channel?

De La Salle University Chorale
(Sights and Sounds of Christmas @
 Robinsons Place Manila)

In just four weeks, these questions were answered.  Within that period, I recorded at least three musical videos with little search effort.  My first channel Jake Lanuza had become a predominantly musical channel which I did not envision.  I wanted the channel to reflect my various interests and to maintain some balance as far as video genre is concerned.  In order not to overload the channel with musical videos, ignoring some concerts will be the worst thing I could do (and I would never do!). It was not the number of musicals that I was worried. With more than a dozen musicals previously uploaded for this channel, I just wanted the next one to be unique in style, execution or material/content.

IMAGO
(Paskong Pinoy 2012
"A Joyous Rock in the Park")     

Philippine All Stars
(World Bazaar Festival 2012)

With several musical videos created in 2012, I started organizing these videos by creating four  playlists - major/full length concert, vocals, dance and instrumentals playlists.  My first channel had already a handful of playlists and  adding new playlists will saturate the channel page.  I wanted a simple way to organize these musical videos aside from the non-musical ones.  The playlist solution was messy for me and the only option I can think of was the new channel creation.

A specialized channel is inevitable since I would want to feature upcoming musical artists aside from topnotch performers. Finally, I wanted to be flexible in uploading musical videos and need not justify the videos' length - full concert (extended/long length), album launch/mall show (medium length), and single song/artist feature or song cover (short length).

During 2012 Christmas Season, I was bombarded with concert video-ops. There was a proliferation of concerts and shows.  Even if it will be difficult for me to maintain two Youtube channels, I had to create the  Konsyerto Pinoy Channel. Aside from the above reasons and circumstamces, the last straw was brought by the One World, One Makati Concert.

To experience what is like to be away from home or "work" during New Year's Eve, I attended the street party and countdown concert at the corner of Makati Avenue and Ayala Avenue.  Titled One World, One Makati (2013 New Year Countdown) Concert, various musical talents participated in the event.  Such talents included iconic bands  Hotdog and The Dawn.

The Dawn performed songs belonging to music genres which the band has mastered and been associated with. In creating The Dawn's video, a straight forward assembly of songs performed was made. The number of songs included was trimmed down to create a mini-concert or  a mall album launch video length ( 3-5 songs).

On the other hand, Hotdog  had a repertoire which included their original hits and adapted songs of other local and foreign artists. Since the band was already an icon several decades ago, a "journey into the past" concept would be appropriate for Hotdog's video.  Thus, the video was titled Hotdog Takes One World, One Makati to a Musical Journey (a sentimental trip into the 1970s via Original Pilipino Music OPM hits). With this concept, two Hotdog medley's were excluded from the Jake Lanuza channel uploads and became the initial uploads of the Konsyerto Pinoy Channel.

Konsyerto Pinoy Channel
Initial/First Logo

To emphasize the new channel's purpose and vision, a video snapshot from Paskong Pinoy 2012 "A Joyous Rock in the Park" was used for the channel logo and later for the channel art.  With the brand essential in place, the two Hotdog medleys were uploaded.


Konsyerto Pinoy Upload 1

The first Konsyerto Pinoy video uploaded was Hotdog's medley of songs by Journey Don't Stop Believin'  and by Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine. This medley was also performed during the same set as that of the songs in "Hotdog Takes One Word, One Makati to a Musical Journey" video.


Konsyerto Pinoy Upload 2

Aside from the medley above, Hotdog performed another medley of songs by Queen We Will Rock You and by The Beatles Come Together. This medley became the second upload for Konsyerto Pinoy Channel.

Now, it will just be a waste of time to enumerate the forty (40) musical videos created for the Konsyerto Pinoy Channel so far.  As far as I am concerned, justification for the creation of Konsyerto Pinoy Channel can only be validated by the new channel's performance.  For the Konsyerto Pinoy Channel, the validation for its being came early with this video.

The video was recorded on Valentine's day of 2013 and featured the Philippines' most popular total performer Ms. Sarah Geronimo.  True to Konsyerto Pinoy Channel's purpose, this young artist can sing, dance, and perform quite well and thus, the channel salutes her talent and proudly presents her to the world. In this light, the channel hopes to highlight more Filipino artists and show the nation's musical versatility.

Though "Sarah Geronimo in Heart Songs @ The Glorietta Mall Makati 2013" justified the being of the new channel, the driving force of such validation must be  pointed out now.  Even with the huge talent of "Popstar Princess" Sarah,  the viewers choice (to watch the video in part or completely) defined the validation process. A viewer has always the option to ignore a video even with a high-density HD quality.  The power ultimately rests on the viewer who passes judgement on a channel.  Without the viewers, Sarah's video could not attain more than ten thousand views and hundred likes. Due to the viewers, Konsyerto Pinoy Channel has surpassed the highest number of views twice over than any video of my first channel.  Indirectly, the viewers enabled the channel to deliver 40 musical videos to date.

Again, I had to inject another assumption - viewers chose to watch the video because of some meritorious content.  Ms. Geronimo's performance in the video is quite entertaining specially with the invited kid from the audience.  The video captured the spontaneity in Sarah during her interaction with the audience about being in love, out of love and who cares about love.  More importantly, the "teacher" in Sarah was shown when she professed that ,in difficult times such as storm, love will keep people together.

Even if the video creator is good, even if the performer is excellent and brilliant, the being of a channel depends ,in the long run, on the viewers who keep the videos afloat, and of course on Youtube support.

To all the musical artists' admirers, friends and viewers who shared their valuable time to watch videos of Konsyerto Pinoy Channel, my sincerest gratitude.  Recounting the Road to Konsyerto Pinoy Channel reminded  me of the movie Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.   Remembering the search for the Holy Grail, the path to Konsyerto Pinoy Channel is like that of the Grail. The path has always been there and was just waiting to be traversed.  To reach the final destiny, I just had to close my eyes and BELIEVE!