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When The Bells Tolled In Boston

Written by Ted Reyes

Tuesday, 14 October 2008

For Filipino-American music artists in New England, it is time to join the revolution

Code Name Nina

CODE NAME NINA

BOSTON– Everything has a beginning. It only takes one spark to fuel a fire, one person to start a revolution, a seed to populate a forest. We have seen this happen in our Filipino-American music scene. It happened in New York and New Jersey. It happened in Washington DC and Maryland. It happened in LA and San Francisco. It is happening in Chicago. Soon it will happen it New England.

We can say so, because we were there. We were there and we have seen the seeds. All it needs now is watering.

Abby Heredia and Fred Kendall Abong and are not from Boston, but from nearby Rhode Island, where, according to them, no Filipino-American music scene exists. They know of only two Filipino-American artists that are active in the area: Themselves.

The same is true for Boston and most of New England, they said. It is just not happening yet. However, it will not be the case for long.

Abby and Fred, along with a great drummer Chris, started something that in a few years will be remembered as the spark that ignited an explosion. They started Flipapalooza– a Filipino-American music fest in Boston. It happened last October 11 (Remember, remember the 11th of October…).

Don’t get me wrong, it is not a ‘palooza’ yet, but it is a start.
Abby explained that the New England Filipino-scene is so non-existent that they had to ask support from nearby New York and New Jersey bands to fill in the bill. She recognized the tightness of the local NY/NJ scene and turned to them for assistance. She knows it well because she saw it first hand last year when her former band These Curious Pleasures played the Poptimes Magazine two-night anniversary festival. She saw what was happening and wished the same in her region.

So, Sodapop Suicide, The Kuwagos, and The Happy Analogues all went up and lent their hands to what could be the start of something big.

A small club with a great promise.

Abby, managed to book Café Midway, a small rock n’ roll club dubbed as the best place to rock in Boston. Abby told us how hard it is to get a venue in Boston for Fil-Am artists. She said that club owners just don’t think it could put bodies in their clubs, which is true, in a way, as Abby said. However, getting Café Midway was a victory– a huge one.
Finally, a club listened and gave it a spin. The risk was well worth it. The show was a great success. The three bands from Jersey and the two acts from Rhode Island showed Boston and New England what they are missing.

Code Name Nina
After These Curious Pleasures disbanded, Abby wanted to try a more experimental approach, as if her former band wasn’t experimental enough already with their odd time rhythms and unconventional melody structures. So she went solo with TCP’s ex-drummer, Chris and formed a duo– Code Name Nina.

Code Name Nina is as experimental as it could get. She took the time signature–bending style of her ex-band and took it to a more twisted plane. Only a skilled songwriter/guitarist and a drummer like Abby and Chris can pull of something of this intricacy. The music is so experimental, it challenges anyone to absorb what are often times ignored. After listening to Code Name Nina’s songs, it certifies the truth that there is indeed more to music than 1-3-5, and 4/4.

Fred Kendall Abong

Fred is from Newport, Rhode Island, the home of the Newport Jazz and Folk Festivals where the legends of both genres have played and made history.
Joan Baez, Johnny Cash, Howlin’ Wolf, Bob Gibson, and Bob Dylan played the Folk fest. While giants of Jazz like, Miles Davis and Duke Ellington made historic performances in the Jazz festival.

Fred’s music is not far from his hometown’s celebrated genres. His sound is the sound of electric folk (Bob Dylan’s controversial debut as an electric folk artist happened in Newport on July 25, 1965. Dylan was booed for his electric sound) which works well with his songwriting and vocal textures.
Fred’s lyrics are honest and relevant just like the folk heroes of old. He only has one CD out, a self-titled album released in 2004 that he generously gave to us for review. He said that his CDs are dusty since he stopped playing for a couple of years to concentrate on other life things.
With that, it could be said that his set at Café Midway was a comeback gig- a return to music and a commitment to build a scene.

Flippalooza in Boston can be assessed as a birth.–A birth of something very important in the history of Filipino-Americans. Though Abby, Fred and Chris can always count on support from their fellow Fil-Am artists in the country, what is important is the local network in their are. If we are going to study the development of the music scenes in the different States, we will discover that everything begins with a group of artists that became friends, and eventually became family.
New England has at least three great Fil-Am artists. It is improbable not to find new ones, or old ones that are tucked in obscurity underneath the New England sun. They are there, waiting for a spark, or a call.
Last Saturday, the fire was lit and the call was made. It is in a way consistent to a New England story of Paul Revere riding through the night to warn his fellow New Englanders of impending British attack. Only this time, Abby, Fred and Chris played and organized a Fil-Am rock show and called notified everyone that a Filipino-American music surge is underway. Yes, the bells were tolled, and it is calling for you.

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