Agaw Agimat releases new single “Maghihintay”

Agaw Agimat releases new single “Maghihintay”

By Rick Olivares

Agaw Agimat released a new single, “Maghihintay” and its corresponding music video to last Saturday night, February 15 at 70s Bistro.

“Maghihintay, written by Agaw Agimat’s vocalist Wendy Villanueva, is a heartfelt paean to her mother who recently passed away as well as her beliefs about reincarnation and the cycle of life. The new single follows “Antok” that tells of the challenges that face people who work in the BPO industry – where Villanueva and Agaw Agimat drummer Renmin Nadela also work and came out in December of 2019.

The video for “Maghihintay” was shot in a farming area of Tagaytay called Amadeo and directed by Kadiboy Belarmino (who is also the lead vocalist of another Cavite-based band, Fherrond).

The show was also conceived to be a belated Valentine’s Day show and the first 20 couples were given a free cassette of “Maghihintay” that was manufactured by independent label, Mutilated Noise Records.

“We only had 20 copies of the cassette made,” bared Nadela. “We wanted it to be in a limited number and for the die-hard fans of the band. But we will see if we can add more to sell.”

One fan who lives out in Pililia, Quezon was unable to go. So, he had a friend purchase two tickets to the show to qualify as “a couple” in order to get the cassette.

According to the person who purchased two tickets on his behalf just to get the tape, the fan has every single release of Agaw Agimat and he wanted to maintain a complete collection of everything that is put out. “That really surprised me,” admitted Nadela. “We’ve also been getting a lot of inquiries about another run so we will have to look into this.”

The fourth generation line-up of Agaw Agimat – Renmin Nadela on drums Wendy Villanueva on vocals, John Lugtu (also of the Chongkeys) on guitar, Rene Serna also on guitar (and who also performs with Radha of Kulay and Arnel Pineda), and Adeng Maron (of metal band Orb of Blood) on bass – headlined an impressive show that featured Cavite-based bands Dally (that was very good impression with their groove-infused post-rock sound), the Deftones-inspired Save the Fall, Fherrond, Erectus, and the Chongkeys.

“I think it is an exciting time for Agaw Agimat,” said Nadela before the show. “We feel we have a solid line-up of talented and seasoned musicians. It just flows when we perform or even write music. We’re all excited about creating new music and I think it is safe to say that we will have a new album out before the year ends.”

It has been 16 years since Agaw Agimat released an album. The last was 2004’s Mantra. They previously also released three other albums, R-15 in 1995, Patak in 1997, and the widely-acclaimed Guerilla Ballroom in 2000.

“We were pleasantly surprised that ‘Antok’ received a lot of airplay in Manila and provincial radio stations,” added Nadela. “We’re hoping that ‘Maghihintay’ will also resonate well with music fans as well as music programmers.”

With Renmin Nadela and Wendy Villanueva of Agaw Agimat (and the Republicats).