Time for a new dance craze with Todo Pasa

Time for a new dance craze with Todo Pasa

by rick olivares

It was a nervous Bing Austria who took the 70s Bistro stage last Monday night, February 27, 2018. “I’m nervous,” he said admitted right before he walked up on a stage where he has done hundreds of times in his long music career with Tropical Depression, Put3ska, the Juan Pablo Dream, and the Flippin’ Soul Stompers. Yet, nervous he was.

Austria opened by mentioning the debut of famed Jamaican band, the Skatalites, in 1964, and their massive influence on the tiny Caribbean island spawned a multitude of reggae, dub, rocksteady, and ska bands that conquered the rest of an unsuspecting world. While the frontman isn’t suggesting that Todo Pasa is a Philippine version of the Skatalites because he fully knows that the Skalawags and Put3ska have that honor, and that the local ska scene has been kept alive by many other bands, maybe this is the kick it needs in the pants. After all, when luminaries like Austria and Put3ska’s Tuesday Vargas return to the stage, then who knows?

So friends, fans, and the curious clapped their hands, stomped their feet, skanked to the infectious party beat. And maybe you can forgive fans for – to paraphrase Prince’s lyrics to the song “1999” – partying like it was 1993.

Todo Pasa, that new ska band that features familiar faces, made their debut. It may be a moment of serendipity. Put3ska’s old trumpet player Eldie Siochi was there. Coffeebreak Island’s terrific guitarist and singer Paul Puti-an and bassist Romel Manuel were on stage as well. And in tow were Christian Moseros on saxophone, Shuffle Union’s Marlon Palustre on trombone, Raffie Miranda on keyboards, and Dennis Delos Santos on drums.

Todo Pasa raced through first wave ska and Two-Tone classics such as Millie Small’s version of “My Boy Lollipop”, Toots and the Maytals’ “Monkey Man”, and “The Guns of Navarone” by the Skatalites, and “Too Much Pressure” by the Selecter to name a few.

The second half of the 90-minute show featured a lot of Put3ska classics such as “Birthday Holiday”, and “Short Stories” laced with the Champs’ party rocker, “Tequila” among others.

“Manila Girl” closed out the rollicking show and left everyone spent. “Para akong nag-marathon,” quipped Siochi who was drenched in sweat.

Yet even after the show that ended some 40-minutes past midnight, many people didn’t leave. They hung around basking in the afterglow of perhaps a great show. “Ang dumi ng performance namin,” laughed Austria. “The rust and lack of practice showed.”

Somehow, the folks didn’t mind at all.  

“This isn’t going to be a one-off show,” said Vargas has been performing with indie band, Top Junk. “Todo Pasa…. in its literal translation is ‘anything happens’. But its metaphoric meaning is, ‘when something happens, you should let it be’. When I re-connected with Bing and some old friends, it re-ignited old passions.”

And believe it or not, that re-connecting with Vargas happened only a few weeks ago. “I would check the waters to see if ska is viable for me again,” chimed in Austria who has been performing with his globe-trotting Flippin’ Soul Stompers (they put out a record in Germany titled “Rosas Epektos”). But nung tinawagan ako ni Tuesday a few weeks ago at nagtawanan kami, eh, ayun na. At meron festival sa Baliuag, Bulacan at kasalanan ni Noel Salonga ng Skabeche at naenganyo kami.”

“Twenty years will do a lot to a person, so we all changed,” clarified Vargas who said Todo Pasa, despite its Put3ska-flavored set, will not be out to be a copycat band. “We have defined ourselves as people over time. We have experienced more in life. So we will eventually create more authentic music to who we are now. I mean, if you look at Bing, he has been playing a lot of soul, Motown, so you can be sure that influence will find its way into how we write our new material.”

“Yung Neighbors hindi naman nawala,” summed Austria. “Nandiyan din yung Buzzer Beaters, Mobster Manila, Skabeche, Dandimites, Skaface, and Coffeebreak Island of course. Siguro rin yung sound na nagawa namin before siguro hinahanap ng maraming tao kayao heto na. Sabi nga ni Tuesday, ‘Todo Pasa na ito.’”