Bamboo Mañalac lines up surprise projects to celebrate his 20 years in the industry. – Eunice Blanco
MANILA, Philippines- It is Bamboo Mañalac’s 20th year in the industry and he would like this year to be something special.
“I’m gonna be there until you get sick of me,” he replied with a laugh when asked about his plans this year in an interview Tuesday afternoon, January 28.
“So I’d rather surprise them na lang. I mean, it’s my 20 years in the business, so I wanna be as busy as possible. So again it’s my 20th year and hence, I want to celebrate that.”
First among his surprises is the regional tour of his concert with Yeng Constantino dubbed “By Request,” which was first staged in August.
It will be as interactive and fun as their first concert, Bamboo promised, only they would change the line up of songs they would perform in each concert that will held on February 7 at Cebu City, March 8 at Davao City and on March 16 at Baguio.
Bamboo has been through a lot in his 20 years in the industry: he’d been a member of the band Rivermaya for five years and formed his own band Bamboo which lasted for eight years until in 2011 when he decided to go solo.
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Bamboo considers going solo as one of the highlights of his career.
He recalls “when I went solo, I was playing in Toronto with a band there and it’s the first show I did after I went solo. To do that show, to get a response, to do it your way, that was a special time for me.
“Kasi parang for the past 15 years I was doing it with a band, di ba? So parang it’s hard na, ‘oh no, how do I do this?’ I mean, you go without fear pero it’s there at the back of your head.”
The Mysterious Image
Though he’s been in the industry for a number of years now, Bamboo never fails to give something new to his fans.
This, he said, is something that he was able to do because he’s really connected and attach to his craft.
“I’ll just be in this moment, right at this moment, ‘yon lang ‘yon, e,” he explained. “I try to think of something different because ganito ginawa ko na, I just know what I do and I feel it lang na, ‘oh, nagawa ko na ‘to, e, so I can’t do this.’ So it’s a gut feel.”
Another thing that his fans admire about him is his mysterious image.
Bamboo says it was not his intention to become “mysterious” in the eyes of the public, but he said he wants to keep his personal life private.
“I’m just myself,” he said. “I just keep my personal life here and my work life here. I just know where to divide it lang, I think.”
