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1/14/14

Lady's Faves: Who Or What Influences Your Musical Palette? An Ode To Regalo...

"One good thing about music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." - Bob Marley

Recently, I came to the realization that my musical palette/knowledge is vast and varied because of my family. Their influence sparked my love/interest in music that led me to respect and enjoy different genres while developing my personal preferences.

A few nights ago, I went through a bunch of songs that I transferred from my brother's phone to my sister's new iPod. A song called Knife by a Scottish group named Aztec Camera started to play. I didn't recognize it by the title but as the song played, I realized I did know it. It hit me in such a big way, it stirred such emotion and excitement in me that I immediately started to write this post! When explaining this to my brother, I couldn't even tell him when I heard this song and he was surprised I even knew it. All I could say was it was a long lost song I had buried in my memory somehow and didn't know the title nor artist until that very moment. It was a feeling I can't explain but it was amazing. It was the moment I realized how big of an influence my big brother Ed or as I call him, "Kuya Ed" (Kuya is a Filipino term of endearment meaning older brother) is on me especially with music.



I have fond memories of watching him playing records and DJing while growing up. It's how I gained my knowledge of music from the 70s and 80s. I'm sure that's why my love for DJs and art of DJing is so deep.  
While my friends danced at clubs/parties, more times than not you would find me not far from the DJ booth. I'd either be watching the DJs or just taking in the music and watching people react to it. It's also why my male friends and some of the guys that I've dated didn't mind having me tag along while crate digging at record shops because I enjoyed flipping through albums as much as they do. This led to my interests in radio arts as well. For some time, I aspired to be a radio DJ. I was one of the founders of my high school's radio station and ran the station until I graduated.

Besides DJing, Ed is a self taught keyboardist and produces music under the moniker, Regalo in his own studio, QubeProStudio. He produces Chill, Ambient, Dance and Electronic tracks but can go from genre to genre. I remember when I would sit in front of him with his keyboard between us and watch him play in our apartment. It was a Yamaha PSR 620 that we used to call "Synthia" because she was a synthesizer...get it? LOL! Because of this, I got into music even more. Growing up I learned to play a few instruments...not extremely well but I did have a trumpet solo in grade school! My main thing growing up was singing. All throughout my school years, I was in choirs, had solos and was in a musical. I even auditioned for the Mickey Mouse Club when I was 11 or 12. I actually made it through the preliminaries but just before they were talking about going through to Florida, I choked and forgot lyrics. I somehow developed stage fright after high school and haven't sang in front of anyone for years now! I'm still completely immersed in music though; just not in front of a mic! I could spend hours sitting in a studio watching my brother or any of my friends being creative.

With all this being said, my point of this post is to share who influenced MY musical palette and ask who influences YOU? Let me know!

Please feel free to check out my brother's music:
QubeProStudio on Sound Cloud
QubeProStudio on YouTube

Kuya Ed, you are a big part of who I am. Thank you for everything. Forever Always....

1 comment:

  1. Wow! I had no idea of the musical influence you got from my "adventures' when we were abit younger. You failed to mention that I was a collector of Boomboxes - the bigger the better - remember the one that I put lightning bolts on the speaker screens? Also, the drives that I took you on where you had a gigantic Boombox sitting on your lap as we listened, loud, to the "Footloose" soundtrack, as the weight of the Boombox made marks on your thighs....fun times. LOL! Our Music tastes changed but our love for it hasn't...makes everyday bearable.

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