Bamboo

He performed barefoot, I was once told, during his younger years. And he was real good in each and every song he did, live. He was a frontman of this country's more popular pop-rock band for years, so that was not really surprising.  I don't recall, however, watching him with his band. I just knew of their hits songs; 'Kisapmata', 'Ulan' and 'Tatsulok' (I do not even know which one came out earliest.) Then he left the band, and the country, went back home to San Diego, 'for love', he was supposed to have said. 

Years later, I watched his cover of 'So Far Away' on YouTube, videotaped via a mobile phone, in a live show he did at 19 East, and from then, the name 'Bamboo' made its mark, in my life (like that is a big deal). 

I write about him now after so many years of 'fangirling', they call it. I thought that it is not right, after writing too much about one thing or another, not one is about him. He is an extremely private person that all who know him in the 'celebrity' world speculated about him being married by virtue of the ring on one of his fingers. Until he confirmed it on 'Headstart' at ANC. See, I know these details. 

I met him personally about ten years back in Laoag City, where he had a gig in the city fiesta. My colleagues and I went to Palacio de Laoag, after walking in the city parade, to have a meeting. The front desk people were so excited about Bamboo being the hotel, they told all of us. I think someone told him that there were plenty of people in the open area lobby, because he opened his hotel door, looked down on all of us, from his balcony three floors up, wearing his two-dimpled, no-teeth-showing smile, and waved. I lost it. I screamed like crazy. Then I realized I was the only one screaming, looked around, my staff quite puzzled why their boss suddenly made an idiot out of herself. Really, most of them asked around in whispers (which I heard) who this 'Bamboo' was. Given their age range, I did not wonder about  their reaction. He was gracious enough to spare some time with us, shake hands, take photos, and then politely said his 'thank you's and 'bye' to everyone, explained that he had to go to the gig. I asked if he wanted to join us for dinner, and he said something about eating only a chicken sandwich before any gig.

His career started to scale heights after that, and I would in about half of each year, be obssessed with him. My friends know a lot about me, but a list of that stuff would not be complete without 'Bamboo' somewhere in there. He is not that good-looking, as far as I am concerned. He has wide-set eyes, hooded by thick eyelids. And he has a tic somewhere in his eyes, like he blinks repeatedly at certain time. He has a regular nose and mouth, but he has adorable dimples. He is not tall, has fair complexion, and wears his hair in weird ways. He has become thin through the years (I saw an old video of the band where he was so fat) , at times too thin. He wears nothing else but tshirts and jeans, fabulous sneakers. He speaks English with an American accent, which he has not lost even if he has been in this country for decades. That can be annoying to some. 

Then he performs, and everything is magic. He has a voice like no other, one note he sings would spell 'Bamboo' right off; it was not bass, not tenor, it was just average in range, oh but the color of his voice. His gait, his moves, reflected confidence where one draws only from wholeness of being. His dances are so Filipino, I watch him and see the complex mix of the dances of our tribes, perhaps he is not even aware of. He raps, yet he still sounds authentic and real Filipino, his lyrics loaded with raw emotion. He sings of nationalism, of angst, of love, of freedom, and of hope. Best of all, when he performs, he is in sort of a trance, that absolutely nothing would be sharp enough to cut through the frenzy or solemnity of his music. 

So I am fifty, and I gush over him each weekend that The Voice Teens is on its season run. My kids can only watch me make a fool out of myself, they are helpless when it is Mom going crazy. But these moments I do allow myself to be awkwardly 'fangirling', I do so beyond what some of his fans do. I don't yell  ' I love you Bamboo!', or 'Idol Bamboo' (of course I am tempted to at times, but naaahhhh). I do worship the man in my way, because of his depth and passion for what does. I relate to that completely.