Paalam nAPO taga Cebu.........The Apo HIking Society's Farewell Concert

May 5, 2010 was marked in my diary as APO day because it was scheduled as the final concert in Cebu of the long lasting singing trio, singing icons from the Philippines to be held in Waterfront Hotel, Cebu City. I started preparing early since I will be traveling from the neighboring island of Leyte, where the only trip in the morning is the Shuttle Ferry trip scheduled in the morning of May 5.

 The trip is a 6 hour travel from our place to Cebu City, by land and sea. Though it was a tiring and dusty trip, it was so encouraging, since I will be seeing for the last time in a live concert the famous Filipino trio whose achievement lasted for about forty years.

I arrived Cebu City around two thirty in the afternoon so I decided to rest for several hours after which I took a bath for a fresh feeling before going to the concert site about six in the evening. We arrived at the hotel still early and while waiting for the official entrance time in the concert hall, we decided to fill our tummy at the hotels canteen. Of course we did not eat in the classy restaurant available in the hotel but in the not so classy canteen reserve for workers and staff of the hotel. Well, the food taste good and the price affordable for a retiree like me, though I was not the one who paid for the food, but my wife.

Around seven o'clock we decided to follow the long file of people trying get ahead of the line to get the choice seats for themselves and their companions. Lucky for us, it did not last long and the staff decided to allow us to enter the concert hall to at least rest our tired feet and be comfortable inside the air-conditioned hall.While waiting inside, I was tempted to eat some of the food (snacks) we brought in, which made my companions smile, as if saying "we have just eaten and you're still hungry"?

It did not last long when the announcer happily announced that the show would start in five minutes. The front act was announced.......and Bituin Escalante without much ado made her grand entrance by singing a Burt Bacharach medley.

Burt F. Bacharach(pronounced /ˈbækəræk/, BAK-ə-rak; born May 12, 1928) is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his pop hits from the early 1960s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David, many of which were produced for and recorded by Dionne Warwick.

As of 2006, Bacharach had written 70 Top 40 hits in the US, and 52 Top 40 hits in the UK.

In the early 1960s, Bacharach wrote well over a hundred songs with David. Bacharach and David were associated throughout the sixties with Dionne Warwick, a conservatory-trained vocalist whom the duo met in 1961. She began working for the duo when they needed a singer to "demo" their songs for other artists. Bacharach and David noticed that Warwick's demos often surpassed the quality of the performances others were recording^{[citation needed]}. They started writing a portion of their work specifically with Warwick in mind, which led to one of the most successful teams in music history.^[4]

Over a 20-year period, beginning in the early 1960s, Warwick charted 38 singles co-written or produced by Bacharach, including 22 Top-40, 12 Top-20, and nine Top-10 hits on the American Billboard Hot 100 charts. During the early '60s, Bacharach also collaborated with Bob Hilliard on a number of songs such as "Mexican Divorce" for The Drifters, "Any Day Now" forChuck Jackson, and "Dreamin' All the Time" and "Pick Up the Pieces" for Jack Jones.

Bituin did sung about four of Bacharach's songs, then she gave tribute to songwriter Willy Cruz by singing another three, after which the announcer immediately introduced the name associated with the APO Hiking Society......i.e. Boboy Garovillo, Danny Javier and Jim Paredes who is now an immigrant in Australia.

Heto na, written by Jim Paredes, was the first hit song that made the crowd swoon and croon.

 Followed immediately by Ewan (Mahal kita hindi eto bola), where they tell the crowd that the audience will see the hi-technology of their show wherein lyrics will be shown not on the screen but before them where they can follow the tune if they know it.

The crowd had a big laugh when Boboy produced an idiot board (paper where the background lyrics were written) and where the crowd sang enthusiastically and with gusto. They followed it up with Blue Jeans, a dance able song and another hit during the 70's.

What I admire with the trio is their ability to spice up the show by telling stories, especially their accomplishment in the last 40 years. Some of their accomplishments are the following which other artist would not be able to follow or do: more than 2700 concerts all over the world, particularly the USA, over 27 albums which are mostly hits or topping the local charts, and of course the longest running singing trio.

 They were able also to produce among themselves 9 children, 2 for Boboy, 3 for Jim and 4 for Danny. They were also married among themselves 4 times i.e. 1 for  Boboy, 1 for Jim and 2 for Danny. Two marriages and two annulments. Whew!

But the best part of this relationship is the friendship that they developed for all these years. Since high school in Ateneo de Manila where they met and started their career in singing, they have gone a long way and who knows they might regroup again if fans would insist.

They tell the audience about the friendship being more lasting and credible than other relationships. Thats why they lasted for more than 40 years and still going strong. They sang the song Panalangin which is about friendship followed up by Kaibigan composed by Danny Javier.

But what hit the crowd's (lol) was their rendition of a broken record (vinyl record of old) where they imitated the different problems affecting the playing of a vinyl record during those times. It was a hit because nobody have done it before. And they're so good at it that applause after applause can be heard at the Waterfront venue.

They then offered their next songs to the first timers, that is, those who are not yet married and still on the courtship stage.by starting with When I Met You, ala Pavarotti, Domingo and Carreras the three tenors famous the world over. Then they followed it up by a medley of love songs after which they again made fun of Boboy by making him as a little kuliling (a small bell) while Danny as a kampanilla (bigger bell) and Jim as a kampana (big bell) because all these years Boboy have not grown in height.

Part three of their act was their interpretation of their songs through Rock and Roll (Jim Paredes) Cha-cha-cha (Danny Javier) and marching bands (Boboy). It was such a hit that they keep on changing costumes as they interpret the songs they sung with so much vigor and stamina that you would not think that they are senior citizens already.


 But they keep on telling the crowd that they really appreciate the fans, especially the new ones who appreciate their songs in a new light. They are also indebted to all the bands who made a tribute to them by arranging their songs in a new way that new and younger audience can appreciate their music.