Singer Joey Abando brings nostalgia to Pinoy community in Australia
For Filipinos in Queensland, Australia, the performance of Filipino singer Joey Abando, with local back-up performers, is an affair to remember.
On Saturday night, Aug. 31, Abando, lead vocalist of The Boyfriends, held a highly successful concert for fans and new admirers at the Rumours International Convention Centre on Ruthven Street, Darling Downs, Australia.
The audience consisted of enthusiastic Filipinos and other foreigners from various towns and cities of Queensland – Dalby, Toowoomba, Chinchilla, Roma, Kingaroy, Emerald, Warwick, Clifton, Stanthorpe, Brisbane, Kilkoy, Goondiwindi, Millmerran and Pittsworth.
Agnes P. Cabe, husband Raffy and daughter Gabby, and Cristeta Salvador and husband Elmer, among others, were from Dalby.
Cabe is the president of the Filipino Communities Council of Australia (FILCCA) and secretary of the Filipino Australian Business, Industry, and Communities Council of Queensland, Inc. (FABICCQ).
She was also a former president of the Dalby Filipino Australian Community Association (DFACA).
The other foreigners included Prince Long Lo, who was originally from Hong Kong and a board member of the Multicultural Affairs of the Queensland government.
There are 73,805 residents of Filipino ancestry in the Australian state of Queensland, according to the 2021 census.
“They either hired a van (to travel as a group) or drove all the way to the concert venue,” said Roberto “Bob” C. Garcia, who helped publicize the concert.
He met with Abando, who asked for his help in disseminating information about the concert at the Kawali Asian Cuisine, run by Emmanuel Rodriguez and his wife.
Garcia is the FABICCQ president and the Multicultural Development Officer of the Toowoomba Regional Council (TRC).
“Hanggang ngayon ay parang naririnig pa nila yung areglo ng mga awitin ni Joey. Nakakaaliw ang gabing ‘yun,” he said.
(Until now, they still seem to hear the arrangements of Joey’s songs. That night was really entertaining.)
Areglo is the arrangement of a piece of music for an orchestra, assigning parts for different musical instruments.
Local artists who performed with Abando included Joy Le Serra, called the “Golden Voice of the Gold Coast” of Queensland; Brian Lawrence, multi-awarded Filipino-Australian entertainer; Chuck Nonol, pride of Dabawenyos; and Joselle Ysa.
“It was really a great night for many of us. The performers belted out songs that touched and tugged at the heart when they were first released,” Garcia said.
Garcia, whose father Conrado was from Pangasinan and mother from the Bicol Region, recalled that when they were still in the Philippines, they would hum “Sumayaw Sumunod” (Dance, Follow), which goes:
Ang kasiyahan ay tunay
na pagmamahalan
Ang mararamdaman
lalo na’t kung
nagsasayawan
Awiting bago ay
naghihintay para
isayaw mo
(Awiting bago ay
naghihintay para
isayaw mo.)
(Happiness is real
love
You feel especially
when dancing
A new song is waiting for you to dance to.)
Garcia said the concert featured songs with timeless appeal.
“They’re still sung even in the movies, now or in the recent past,” he said.
“Sumayaw Sumunod ” was sung in the 2003 film “Ngayong Nandito Ka” that starred Jericho Rosales (Rocky Rodriguez) and Kristine Hermosa (Garie Cruz). The cast also included Onemig Bondoc, Derek Cervantes, Karlina Bayot, Cindy Kurleto, and Pinky Marquez.
The cast sang “Sumayaw Sumunod” in a scene inside a hotel in Baguio City.
Garcia added that his contemporaries and the generation before and after them, who were still fleet of foot back then, hummed “Sumayaw Sumunod” and other Joey Abando songs when heard on the radio or played in jukeboxes.
“Many Filipinos who have come to Australia as workers or migrants brought with them videos or records of The Boyfriends. They play these and dance to the tunes if they’re in the mood,” Garcia said.
He added that, this early, they were looking forward to the next concert when Abando returns in 2025.
Garcia said Abando had also performed in Australia three years earlier.
