Music Review: Ruweda- Ang UnangIkot

Ruweda, a band from Paranaque Manila successfully launched their Ep last August 30, 2014 at The Outpost. The event was organized by Fragile Tone Productions.

The band name “Ruweda”, as explained by vocalist Lonay Pastrana, is a Tagalog word that means ferris wheel. This word is also the root of the overall concept of the album. From the title, “UnangIkot” and also the paper craft concept of the Cd popping up as you open the Ep.

First song on the Ep is, “Pinag – Isa”. It is a hard rock/ funky type of a song that features their P.O.T and Rivermaya influences. It has memorable lyrics and a tune that a crowd can easily sing to. It is a funky song that could easily be a future Pinoy Rock anthem.

If it is required of all funky bands to have a song that people can dance to then “Giling”, would be the bands answer to that. This is another song that their P.O.T. influences is shown. This might be their response to P.O.T.’s “Yugyugan Na”. You might even say there are touches of other OPM groups like VST & Company and Hagibis on this song too.

“Hilong – Hilo is another funky song but more close to Red Hot Chili Peppers. It is something you can dance to but the lyrics don’t call for a dance. The lyrics remind you of Razorback’s, “Giyang”. This song features the funniest lyrics so far – “ Shotkahitsaan, Shit kahitsaan”.

Finally the fourth song, “Liyab” goes back to their anthem- type songwriting ways. Between , “Liyab” and “Pinag – Isa”, it is hard to choose which one is the good anthem from the band because both have a future, so thank God I am not paid to choose.

Overall, all the four songs in the Ep are worthy of our time, taste and money. Their sound though have semblances of their influences especially P.O.T. have their own different mix to it too. Their sound is more of a combination of hard rock and funk.

It is unlike other funky bands that only pump up the volume on the bass then hide the guitars on the background. Ruweda has the bass and the guitar on the same footing and each instrument has been given their own time to shine.

Then because of the Filipino lyrics, which are a looser and light type of a language compared to Bisaya, fits well to their danceable grooves, but the band is not all dance and good times too. Their anthemic lyrics also prove that their out to make some positive influence to the community as well.

Personally, I like this band and would truly want them to have all the fame and money they can have. If you think about it, OPM does not have much of funky bands out there and ever since the death of Rock icon Karl Roy, the genre has been dead for a long time on the mainstream music scene.

The strange thing about it, we have a lot of rock and metal bands out there but don’t have a lot of funky music. Too much aggression, we need to dance sometimes.

Maybe in the future, it would also be fun to see this band perform live again as you can really feel the energy from their performances. It is also a fun question to ask bass guitarist Flip Alejaga all over again if he does not feel the cold as he performs shirtless.

Lastly, congratulations to Fragile Tone productions for successfully organizing this band’s Ep Launch at The Outpost . Without them, we Cebuanos would have never known such an energetic funk band existed in this country. To think this is the productions first time to bring a Manila band to Cebu.

The musical taste of Fragile tone productions to choose the right band and their organizing powers have done it again. Again, congratulations!

About the author: N.M. CABANGBANG graduated Bachelor of Fine Arts Major in Painting at University of the Philippines Cebu. He is now currently teaching grade 6 – 10 Art at B.R.I.G.H.T.  Academy. He also plays the bass and sings for the band – PALTIK.