Pers Lab Atbp, a different way of looking at Manila Sound

(Baby Gil)

Do you know how the Manila Sound came by its name? Once upon a time, one late night in the
long ago era of the 70s, young Vicor music executive Vic del Rosario Jr. was shooting the
breeze with the members of the new hot band, Hotdog.

Fronted by the brothers Dennis and Rene Garcia with Assumptionista Ella del Rosario as girl
singer, Hotdog had the biggest-selling 45RPM single of the time titled Pers Lab and an album of
new originals named Unang Kagat to match.

Hotdog was signed to the Villar label owned by Don Manolo Villar. It had been the leading
record company in the country for many years, was the distributor of the big foreign labels and
was known as the home of traditional Philippine music.

Remember that jingle that used to come out on Christmastime? Give the lasting gift of Philippine
music.

That was from Villar Records. All of a sudden, thanks to Hotdog, the usually staid Villar had
acquired rock star chops.

Upstart Vicor was just starting to get itself taken seriously by the local music industry. Headed
by Del Rosario and Orly Ilacad, Vicor had some big sellers, Pilita Corrales and Victor Wood
were among them and a new label that was supposed to be for the young and hip, named
Sunshine.

The Juan de la Cruz Band and the Apo Hiking Society were already signed to Sunshine.

Hotdog was not only young and exciting. It also had this, playful, erratic approach to songwriting
with simple and pretty melodies that used a mix of English and Tagalog lyrics.

Take note, that was a time when Tagalog was baduy and one was not supposed to mix English
with it.

Assumption girls like Ella was not supposed to speak Tagalog. It was said that Miss Universe
Gloria Diaz was quoted as saying she only spoke Tagalog to the help.

But Dennis, a bassist, who at the age of 17 was already working as a copywriter for an ad
agency, changed that.

He mixed the lyrics, ditched the traditional kundiman arrangements for Filipino songs and for the
final touch, he changed the spelling of First Love into the vernacular, Pers Lab.
So, shouldn’t something as dynamic as Hotdog also be under contract with a young and exciting
label like Sunshine?

Thus went Del Rosario’s argument.

It was then that the future entertainment mogul also wondered: Shouldn’t there be a name to
the new sound that Hotdog had created?

Like Motown of The Sound of Philadelphia (TSOP). The always creative Dennis came up with a
quick answer: Why not call it the Manila Sound? And the Manila Sound did the new sound
become.

It took Hotdog a few more years before it finally joined Sunshine. That was where the group did
the later hits like Manila and Panaginip. Del Rosario though affixed the tag Manila Sound to his
Sunshine label, which later became home to Rico Puno, Circus Band, Cinderella, VST&Co. and
others.

In no time at all, the Manila Sound was also the name by which the pop music revolution
instigated by Hotdog came to be known.

Years later, in the wake of the slump that has sent creativity and music production down to an
all-time low, the Manila Sound era also came to be known as the Golden Age of Philippine
Music.

It was indeed golden. We still ask, over 40 years later, will we experience something like that
again?

Memorable songs like Manila, Pers Lab, Bongga Ka Day, Panaginip, Behh Buti Nga, Careful
Careful, Annie Batungbakal, O Lumapit Ka, Ikaw Ang Miss Universe Ng Buhay Ko, Badaf
Forever, Sa Isip Ko, Langit Na Naman, Ikaw Pa Rin, Pusong Mamon and others.