Kuh Ledesma & Regine Velasquez
Mosaic Music Festival
Filipinos were out in force on Wednesday night for the Kuh Ledesma and Regine Velasquez concert, but for the non-Filipinos in the audience – and there were quite a few of them – much of the evening’s chatty portions must have passed in a blur.
It’s a good thing then that music is a universal language and that there was more singing than talking.
For the non-Pinoy crowd, Velasquez is probably most famous for the duet she sang with Hong Kong Heavenly King Jacky Cheung in the 1994 English hit In Love With You.
She had the pipes all right, but it was her vocal versatility that impressed the crowd. She could sound sweetly delicate and vulnerable one minute and then belt it out the next. She even invested genuine emotion into familiar middle-of-the-road Whitney Houston ballads such as I Will Always Love You and Run To You.
A few songs in Tagalog were judiciously sprinkled over the night, enough for the non-speaker to enjoy them but not too many to cause his attention to stray.
Ledesma’s singing had a classy sultriness to it and she was all about love and having that someone special in your life. Unexpectedly, that someone for her turned out to be Jesus Christ. It came a little too close to feeling like a church service during the earnest introduction to the duet The Prayer.
Given that this was a double billing, duets were an integral part of the programme. Ledesma, 52, and Velasquez, 36, are entertainment stalwarts in their native Philippines and their experience stood them in good stead. They shared an easy rapport and it came through in the music.
They got the appreciative and receptive crowd on its feet during the medley of1970s hits, including the rousing I Will Survive. Two enthusiastic gentlemen were invited onstage. They danced and sang along happily.
The showbiz veterans’ camaraderie was also apparent in their engagement with the audience. When Ledesma changed into a body-hugging shimmering blue dress,Velasquez had her modelling for the audience. Then Velasquez took her turn on the catwalk, staggering exaggeratedly with one hand supporting her back as she had pinched a nerve.
The deceptively sweet-looking Velasquez vamped it up in a low-cut pale blue sheath and remarked tantalisingly at one point: “Why don’t you believe I’m a virgin?”
Alas, the punchline was in Tagalog.
If only there were subtitles.
(ST)