The Enchanting Crooner
January 31, 2009
“THEY say just one song is all it takes for the listener to fall head over heels in love with the singer.
For the late National Artist Nick Joaquin, the song was “Someone to Watch Over Me.” It is widely known among newshounds that this song alone turned the revered writer into a Girl Valencia groupie.” (Read more)
Girl Valencia possesses a smoky voice that can alternately be husky and warm or light and buoyant. From low, whispering tones filled with lushness and richness, her vocals ascend to grab at higher notes without strain. Years of performing have apparently smoothened whatever imaginary flaws there were in this vocal gem; her voice never wavers off course, never falters off-key, and remains as whole and as surefooted as it started on the first few bars of melody. (Read more)
Rama at Sita The Musical
Huwag Takasan–Ariel Rivera. Rama prays to the gods Vishnu (Bimbo Cerrudo) and Shiva (Girl Valencia) and agrees to seek his destiny in the city of Mithila, accompanied by his brother Lakshmana.
Source: GibbzCadiz Website
Youtube Videos: PencilPusher20Rama at Sita Copyright Owners: Franco Laurel and Ayen Munji-Laurel of ML Entertainment
Girl: Driftwood Traveling (Repackaged 2008)
Title: Driftwood Traveling (Repackaged)
Artist: Girl Valencia
Label: Synergy Music
Released: 2008
Number of Tracks: 8
1. Underground River
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
2. Whenever (Video)
Lyrics by: Girl Valencia / Music by: Girl Valencia & Paolo Dizon
3. Sunrise
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
4. For Better Or Worse (Video)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
5. My Open Sea And Sky
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
6. Sisters
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
7. Wherever I Am
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
8. Driftwood
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
All Songs by Girl Valencia
www.alibatarecords.com
girl.valencia@gmail.com
www.metamedia.com.ph
mercgabriell10@gmail.com
Dance Project 001 Dance Music & Remixes (2007)
Label: Synergy Music
Number of Tracks: 12
(CD) Various Artists - Dance Project 001 Original Dance Music & Remixes
2. Underground River (dj Myke Salomon’s Under Water Mix)
3. I Wanna Know (chi Capulong Satoshi’s Carribean Mix)
4. A Woman’s Song (chi Capulong Satoshi’s Big Band Mix)
5. Whenever (dj Brian Cua’s Suntheory Rework)
6. Don’t Let It Getcha (dj Myke Salomon’s Mouse Hunt Mix)
7. Beholding You (dj Travis Monsod’s The Electric Opulent Touch Mix)
8. I See You (mark Laccay’s Mix)
9. Unconditional Love (allan Feliciano Mix)
10. Unconditional Love (dj Myke Salomon’s Get 2 Heaven Mix)
11. Don’t Let It Getcha (allan Feliciano Mix)
12. Don’t Let It Getcha (mark Laccay Lounge Mix)
Source: Titik Pilipino
Girl: Driftwood Traveling (2006)
Title: Driftwood Traveling
Artist: Girl Valencia
Label: Candid Records
Released: 2006
Number of Tracks: 11
1. Underground River
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
2. Whenever (Video)
Lyrics by: Girl Valencia / Music by: Girl Valencia & Paolo Dizon
3. Sunrise
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
4. For Better Or Worse (Video)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
5. My Open Sea And Sky
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
6. Sisters
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
7. Wherever I Am
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
8. Sisters (Instrumental)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
9. For Better Or Worse (Instrumental)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
10. Wherever I Am (Instrumental)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
11. Driftwood (Instrumental)
Lyrics & Music by: Girl Valencia
All songs by Girl Valencia
Eric Obach - piano
Jay Cayuca - violin
Al Albert - Percussion
Benjie Ariola - Drums
Four2Five - vocals on Sunrise
Eugene C. Calimag - vocal arrangement on Sunrise
Instrumentals:
Ferdie Borja - piano solo
Eric Obach - piano
Marz B. Taylan - violin
Christopher Oracion - flute
Source: Titik Pilipino
18 winning women writers
January 30, 2009Posted on March 17th, 2008 under Art & Living Achievements
By Alfred A. Yuson
Oh, and one man. But we’ll get to him later.
Last Tuesday was a big day for 13 women writers who were honored at the Ateneo’s Mateo Ricci Hall with their inclusion in a prestige roster as “New Stars” of Philippine literature.
A brainchild of ALIWW or the Ateneo Library of Women’s Writings, which started an annual lecture-exhibit series 12 years ago to honor the memory of Paz Marquez Benitez, this year’s innovation veered from the usual practice of singling out an established Filipina writer as the subject.
Previous honorees had included the illustrious likes of Angela Manalang Gloria, Linda Ty Casper, Gilda Cordero Fernando, Tita Lacambra Ayala and Virginia Moreno.
This year, ALIWW named 13 emerging women writers below the age of 40, whom ALIWW director Edna Zapanta Manlapaz observed in her opening remarks as “chronologically constitut(ing) the fourth generation of writers following Paz Marquez Benitez.” Thus, for the 12th PMB Lecture/Exhibit, it was 12 plus one for good measure!
Edna recounted: “When we were in search of a title for this event, we thought: why not ‘New Stars,’ a playful allusion to ‘Dead Stars,’ written by PMB, published in 1927, and acknowledged as the first modern Filipino short story.”
She also clarified that ALIWW is not an award-giving body but “an archive that procures, preserves and promotes the writings of Filipino women of achievement in all fields.”
Named as the 13 New Stars were Frances Alcaraz, Nikki Go Alfar, Christine Bellen, Becky Bravo, Conchitina Cruz, Nerissa del Carmen Guevara, Cyan Abad Jugo, Mookie Katigbak, Fran Ng, Jema Pamintuan, Rica Bolipata Santos, Girl Valencia, and Mirava Yuson (ehem).
“Predictably,” Manlapaz said, “the writings of these 13 aspiring writers first emerged in the pages of magazines and journals, in anthologies and in textbooks, not just here in the Philippines but also abroad. But today, each of these 13 writers has at least one published book to her name. Among them they have published 28 titles.”
Children’s literature is but one genre these young writers have engaged in, with Fran Ng authoring seven children’s books, three of which won the National Book Award, while Becky Bravo has published four books for children and gained first prize in the Palanca Awards for two of her stories. Girl Valencia won an NBA last year for a children’s book, and our 16-year-old daughter Mirava co-authored a children’s book when she was five, won the RCBC Kwentong Kalikasan national contest at 8, and has contributed a teen story and book reviews to READ magazine.
Multi-media has also been fair game for this “NOW generation.” Christine Bellen collaborated on a stage musical retelling of the stories of Lola Basyang. Nerisa Guevara has an award-winning CD of her poems. Girl Valencia has a music CD of songs she composed. Nikki Alfar and Cyan Abad Jugo contribute to Mango Jam, a girl power comics series.
Fran Ng used to edit Seventeen magazine. “Chingbee” Cruz edits Forum, a UP publication, while Rica Bolipata Santos writes a regular column for The Philippine Star. “Punch” Alcaraz designs websites.
Highlighting the event was a solo dance number by Nerissa Guevara while Mookie Katigbak read a poem. Girl Valencia sang, and Chingbee Cruz delivered the response in behalf of all the honorees. Special guest was Virginia Benitez Licuanan, Paz’s daughter, who received the individual albums prepared by the 13 honorees.
ALIWW had fashioned a questionnaire and asked them to write down their answers in a big scrapbook - whose pages they could fill up any way they wished. These scrapbooks now serve as their initial installment in the document box at the ALIWW archives already bearing their names.
Thirteen humongous tarpaulins honoring each writer were also hung alongside the pathway that led to the rites site. Before the event began, guests perused the scrapbooks placed on high tables by the tarps, which will be placed inside Ricci Hall until January. The albums will in turn be exhibited at ALIWW, where guests are invited to “write in” whatever they wish, all the way through the Christmas break, as it’s an inter-active exhibit.
Edna announced that what ALIWW has done is to render “only what all writers, but especially young writers, crave: recognition of work well written and encouragement for work yet to be written.”
Congratulations to this baker’s dozen - all much more than promising, emerging, live and glowing stars.
Last Monday, five other “emerging” women writers (and one plucky, lucky male) also distinguished themselves by winning the top prizes in the 5th Doreen Gamboa Fernandez Food Writing contest.
This year, the theme was “Kakanin” - with the usual mafia of foodies serving as burping judges: punong-abala Micky Fenix, author Felice Prudente Sta. Maria, Food magazine editor Norma Chikiamco, writer-editor Maya Besa Roxas who happens to be the late lamented Doreen Fernandez’s niece, Anvil Publishing director Karina Bolasco, chef and Meralco executive Mol Fernando, and yours truly as a dessert expert and midnight snack aficionado.
Such was the level of competition among the nearly hundred entries that we had to meet over five-hour lunches at least twice - at Edsa Shangri-La Hotel and The Peninsula Manila - and still had to continue our warmed-up, indeed heated, arguments for the final rankings over the Internet. That way, knives were off the table, so to speak.
The winning essays and many others that didn’t make it to the Magic (Kitchen) 6, as well as contributions from the Manila Ladies Branch of the International Wine and Food Society, will be developed into a book early next year.
Seeing how elated the winning writers were at the gloriously designed Café Juanita in Bgy. Kapitolyo, Pasig, especially when their prizes kept piling up on their respective forklifts by the curb outside, I swore to resign as a judge so I can join next year’s contest, May I suggest Canned Corned Beef as the theme?
In fact, bags of Argentina corned beef, Regular and Chunky, were among the winners’ piles of delights. (I managed to purloin one bag off Micky’s otherwise scrupulous watch.) Other sponsors pitching in with cash and products were ABS-CBN Corporation through Gabby Lopez and Monchet Olives; Heritage Foundation, which pledged to endow the DGF Award for three years;
Unilever Food Solutions; Century Tuna represented by Donna Morales; and San Miguel Pure Foods represented by Maricel Manalo and Christine Duran.
Of course, books figured among the prizes, with donations from Anvil Publishing, the CCA or Center for Culinary Arts as represented by Badgie Trinidad, and Summit Publishing through Lisa Gokongwei. Free subscriptions were given for the following magazines: Appetite, as represented by Lorraine Belmonte; Cook by Nancy Reyes; F&B by Manila Lady Nana Ozaeta; Flavors by Dolly Dee and Raffy Zulueta; Food by Manila Lady “Omay” Chikiamco; and Good Housekeeping from Summit Publishing.
Gift certificates were provided by Cravings, Larry Cruz for the LJC Group of Restaurants, Jenny Pena for the InterCon, Joy Wassmer for Shangri-La Makati, Charisse Chuidian for Mandarin Oriental, and Monique Trinidad Toda for New World Renaissance.
Bobby Castillo of Seagull Glass Works donated the trophies, as he has generously done since Year One of the DGF Awards.
CJ Juntereal of the Manila Ladies helped introduce the winners, while chef Myrna Segismundo and writer-editor Chit Lijauco read excerpts from the winning essays. (Full article here)
Taken from Good News Pilipinas Website at this link.
Girl Valencia in Bandila
Korina Sanchez: Misyon ng isang award-winning singer at songwriter na panatilihing buhay ang Original Filipino Music kaya nagtuturo sya ng libre sa mga kabataan. Yan ang ulat ni Pinky Webb.
Pinky Webb: Kilala si Girl Valencia bilang “The Enchanting Crooner” sa mga bars ng mga 5-star hotels na kinakantahan nya. Pero maliban sa pagkanta, sumusulat din siya ng sarili niyang awitin. Dose anyos lang si Girl nang matuklasan ang talentong ito.
Girl Valencia: Gigisingin ako nung naririnig kong kanta in the middle of the night. Mga 2.. 3 AM biglang … tas alam ko na pag di ko siya kinanta sa tape recorder… mawawala na sya.
Pinky Webb: Ilan na sa mga kanta na nagawa ni Girl ay tungkol sa ibat ibang lugar sa bansa na napasyalan nya. Nag-Number 1 ng ilang buwan sa isang radio station ang kanta nyang “Underground River”. Umani na rin siya ng mga parangal, ang UNESCO Peace Prize of Excellence sa awiting “Breaking Barriers” na naging Song of the Peace of 1995.
At 1993 Likhawit National Song Fest para sa kantang “Yan Na Naman”. Naging Nominee rin for “Best Song for a Movie Soundtrack” in 1999 Aliw Awards ang kantang “Tanging Mahal” na sinulat niya at kinanta ni Regine Velasquez. Ngayong bakasyon nagtuturo siya ng Songwriting sa mga kabataan sa ibat ibang probinsya.
Girl Valencia: Narararamdaman ko na maganda sanang malaman din nila kung paano magwrite ng sarili nilang songs. Para hindi lamang puro foreign songs ang nirerevive nila or kinakanta nila.
Pinky Webb: Para kay Girl, ito ang kontribusyon niya para panatilihing buhay ang Original Filipino Music.
Music Videos
Watch Girl Valencia as she sings from the heart. You’ll definitely know why she is called, “The Enchanting Crooner”.
- Mas Que Nada
Neither One of Us
Summer Me, Winter Me
World Vision concert, Celebrating Life
Summertime
The Prayer
World Vision: Children will Listen
Underground River
For Better or Worse
Underground River Remix
Whenever
Whenever (Video sampler)
Sunrise
Girl Valencia on Travel Guide
As If We Never Say Goodbye
Live at Eastwood (April 2007)
Girl Valencia in Bandila : “ASTIG”
Girl Valencia: Singer-Writer-Voyager
Posted: January 30, 2006 at this link
Maria Teresa “Girl” Valencia has launched her long-gestated first CD, Driftwood Traveling (Filscap, P250). The eight songs in the CD, launched last Dec. 5, 2005, were deeply influenced by travels to faraway places in the country, with her parents or siblings, or by herself.
A writer and composer, she wrote all the songs in the album.
This is most memorable, especially in her musical accounts of her forays to the remote, ecologically wondrous corners of Palawan, Cebu, Laguna, and Ilocos Sur.
A Communication Arts graduate of Ateneo University, Girl Valencia has been singing professionally since after college. She makes the rounds as a featured singer of major hotels, including Manila Hotel, Intercontinental Hotel, Mandarin Oriental, EDSA Shangri-La, and Richmonde.
She has represented the Philippines in a couple of song competitions in Asia and is reputed to know 300 songs by heart. These include a unique, emotion-filled interpretation of “Imagine,” the late John Lennon’s peace anthem.
She has won prizes in both composing and writing. In 1995 she was awarded the Unesco Peace Prize of Excellence in Hiroshima, Japan, for a song of peace she composed, entitled “Breaking Barriers.” The song commemorated the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima.
On the writing side, she is the winner of the 2004 Manila Critics Circle prize for the best children’s book in English entitled The Christmas Fireflies.
She has also been tapped on television ads as a model-endorser for Nesvita Cereal and Carnation and was lead actress in a drama, El Filibusterismo, and a musical, Pipin.
Her latest creative work, Driftwood Traveling, represents a musical conscience that is singer, writer, and voyager.
Music Videos of Driftwood Traveling and Girl Valencia’s live performances can be accessed at Youtube. Watch and Listen here.
National Book Awardee Girl Valencia launches her music on February 4, 2006 at the Mag:net Cafe in Katipunan. The show is a musical travelogue from the newly-released Girl: Driftwood Traveling Album. It features the hymns that honor her favorite places in the country, such as Cebu and Palawan, with songs like “Underground River” which recently celebrated its debut as a U.S. Dance Remix Single. Show starts at 8pm.
Taken from the Magnet website
The Christmas Fireflies
The Christmas Fireflies are here!
Winner, 2004 National Book Award for Best Book in Children’s Literature
The Christmas Fireflies, written by Girl Valencia and designed and illustrated by Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo, won the prestigious 2004 National Book Award for Best Book in Children’s Literature. This was announced during the 24th National Book Awards held Sunday, September 4, 2005. The awards for the most outstanding Philippine books are given annually by the Manila Critics Circle in cooperation with the National Book Development Board and the National Commission for Culture and the Arts. This year, the ceremonies were held at the World Trade Center, Roxas Boulevard, Pasay City, also the venue for the 26th Manila International Book Fair.
About the Book
Gillian often looks up at the stars, wishing she could see her mother again. One night, everything started to come together. Pine trees, pine cones, stars, fireflies, glass lamps, perpetual light. Gillian was given a special gift, something that will always be there for her. And Christmas acquired a special meaning, something that everyone can share.
For inquiries about the book send e-mail to girlv@mail.com
About the Author
Girl Valencia is a Communication Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila University. A singer-songwriter, she has received several awards for writing music, including the 1995 UNESCO Peace Prize of Excellence. Girl is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and she ventures into the world of writing stories for children with her first book, The Christmas Fireflies. Contact Girl at girlv@mail.com
More about Girl - In his article “Falling in Love with Valencia” (InQ7.net, Dec. 3, 2004) Conrad Banal III writes: “They say just one song is all it takes for the listener to fall head over heels in love with the singer. For the late National Artist Nick Joaquin, the song was ‘Someone to Watch Over Me.’ It is widely known among newshounds that this song alone turned the revered writer into a Girl Valencia groupie.” That’s not all there is to this Girl. Banal also mentions that Valencia, a Communications Arts graduate of Ateneo de Manila University, has actually written about 300 songs, maybe even more. One of those songs has won her Unesco’s Peace Prize of Excellence. In 1995 Unesco had wanted to commemorate with a song the 50th year of the devastation of the Japanese city Hiroshima in mankind’s first deadly atomic explosion. Valencia submitted a tape of one of her hundreds of original compositions, “Breaking Barriers.” Valencia won the peace award and she went to Hiroshima that year to perform it herself, live. Unfortunately, the song was never recorded here or abroad, until this year. The Ateneo Boys Choir is releasing a new album which includes Valencia’s “Breaking Barriers.” Read the whole article at
http://www.inq7.net/globalnation/sec_sho/2004/sep/27-01.htm
About the Illustrator
Beaulah Pedregosa Taguiwalo is a founding member and former officer of Ang Ilustrador ng Kabataan, a member and former chairman of the Philippine Board on Books for Young People, and a member and regional advisor of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Beaulah’s other children’s books are Sampaguita, Junior Starfish and the Rainbow, Ragamuffin Kid, and Kuwentong Kalikasan Katha ng Kabataan. Her illustrations and book designs are in more than 30 published titles, including books by three National Artists: The Dances of the Emerald Isles by Leonor Orosa Goquingco, Patterns for the Filipino Dress (From the Traje de Mestiza to the Terno) by Salvador Bernal, and the 2004 edition of Culture and History by Nick Joaquin. Contact Beaulah at taguiwalo8888@yahoo.com
More about Beaulah http://www.geocities.com/scbwiphilasia/beaulahtaguiwalo.html
Links
More about the SCBWI in the Philippines http://www.geocities.com/scbwiphilasia
About the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators http://www.scbwi.org
Source: http://www.geocities.com/aklatpambata/christmas-fireflies.htm
Get to know Girl Valencia
Girl Valencia (Maria Theresa Valencia-Dizon in real life) was born on October 23, 1972. One of the highlights of her musical career was in 2001 with a nomination as Best Movie Soundtrack at the Awit Awards for her composition Tanging Mahal, sung by Regine Velasquez as part of the soundtrack of the movie Pangako, Ikaw Lang.
- Taken from OPM.ORG.PH
Multi-talented Girl Valencia is an award-winning singer-songwriter, theater actress, writer, TV commercial model and advocate. She is also an independent record producer for her label Alibata Records which aims to promote the world-class talent of Filipinos through original music.
Aside from her passion for music, Girl Valencia is also an advocate of peace and hope. Her songwriting efforts in this vein earned her the UNESCO Peace Prize of Excellence for “Breaking Barriers”, the Song of Peace in 1995.
In 2006, she released her debut album entitled “Girl: Driftwood Traveling”. The songs, all her original compositions, are a musical travelogue, an homage to the wonderful places in the Philippines that she hopes will be appreciated and visited by more Filipinos. For her, there is no place more beautiful than the land of her birth. One track is entitled “Underground River”, her tribute to Palawan’s Underground River which is now vying for one of the wonders of the world.
Girl Valencia, also known as “The Enchanting Crooner” and the favorite singer of National Artist Nick Joaquin, also writes songs for other major Filipino artists. One of these compositions, “Tanging Mahal” snagged Girl Valencia an Aliw Award nomination for Best Song for a Movie Soundtrack (“Pangako Ikaw Lang”).
Girl Valencia’s craft extends to creative writing. In 2005, she won the National Book Award for her first book, “The Christmas Fireflies,” self-published under her own Papertree Publishing.
In 2007, she was honored by the Ateneo de Manila University’s ALIWW as one of the new outstanding women writers and was named one of the Top Outstanding Alumnae of the School of the Holy Spirit. She graduated from the Ateneo de Manila University with a degree in AB Communications in 1993.
She also conducts free songwriting workshops for public school students around the country, hoping that other artists will also make efforts to tap the innate musical talents of the Filipino youth.
