Bringing the sunshine: Kiara San Luis on living her music dream with Imago

Bringing the sunshine: Kiara San Luis on living her music dream with Imago

by rick olivares

Early during Imago’s set at the 70’s Bistro on a rainy Tuesday evening, Kiara San Luis, the band’s new vocalist paused and uttered, “Kinakabahan po ako.”

Guitarist Tim Cacho smiled then offered, “Okay lang ‘yan.” The rest of the band – bassist Myrene Academia, drummer Mervin Panganiban, and July XIV guitarist Conrad Javier filling in for Zach Lucero who was out of town – beamed. 

It was a beam with bright hues of satisfaction, one of like an older sibling dotting on the young one, and mayhap, that smile as if to say, “we’ve got something here.”

That “something” is someone.

Kiara San Luis was in her final year at Miriam College and working on her Communications Arts degree when she got a message from Lucero expressing interest to come in as Imago’s new vocalist after Mayumi Gomez got married and moved abroad. 

“I used to post videos of myself singing and playing acoustically and now I’m in an actual music video with Imago,” related Kiara. “Is this for real?”

The band has had two previous talented and pretty vocalists in Aia De Leon and Mayumi Gomez and following in their footsteps can be a daunting task. “The pressure of following them hit me only when I began performing with Imago,” revealed San Luis.

“I just told her to be herself and not try to imitate Aia or Mayumi,” advised Academia; something that all the other band members echoed at one point or another. 

“One of my favorite Imago songs is ‘Akap’ (from the second album, Take 2), and I asked the members what it meant but Tim, Zach, and Myrene said that it means something different to everyone so try not to worry about it and interpret it on my own. So I sing it the way I can but with a lot of respect for what Aia brought into the song.”

Tuesday night at 70s Bistro, San Luis is singing a song written with her in mind.

Tuesday night was also the launch of their new music video of their latest single, “Pag-Ibig na Walang Balik.” 

Lucero wrote the song in an hour with San Luis in mind. 

“It’s really flattering and I sing it with all my heart, said Kiara.

Heart. And more. 

Kiara brings power in her vocal range that belies her small frame. She’s like The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler or Sixpence None the Richer’s Leigh Nash – tiny dynamite with a winsome nature and amping up on the perky factor.

And Imago is on their third wind.

How many bands can survive the departure of iconic singers?

Lucero and Cacho, the last of the original iteration of Imago, form its heart, while Academia and Panganiban, solid 90s veterans, give them a solid backbone. But the songs... passed down from one vocalist to another who each put their own stamp on them are timeless.

And Kiara San Luis has in five short months breathed new life into one of the best bands in town.

Right before Imago took the stage, the music video was shown publicly for the first time. San Luis stood in the back close to the soundboard. She was nervous and she held her fingers tight so she would not fidget. At times, she looked away. “Nervous. Shy,” she described her feelings at that moment.

A few songs into Imago’s set, after singing “Pag-ibig na Walang Balik,” the crowd applauded vociferously. Buddy Zabala, of Moonstar 88, that played earlier during the night, nodded and offered his vote of confidence, “Galeng!”

The young lass who only wanted to form a band after college radiated happiness; an infectious zest of someone fulfilling a dream.

Behind Kiara San Luis, the band too beamed. And played on.