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Hi! Thanks for visiting my website and especially for
listening to my original songs.
It really makes my heart pump more musical inspiration when I
receive emails from visitors telling me they've been touched
whenever they listen to my songs. Just last January 5,
somebody told me from across the globe, through Yahoo Messenger,
he shed tears upon listening to
EverythingLand. Truly, how
fattening could that be to my heart's desire to create more
music. And imagine, I'm in Saudi while the listener is in the
Philippines. It only shows that music connects our hearts, minds
and even our experiences wherever we may be...it becomes a
bridge among our kindred spirits. A path towards our life's
meaning.
 I. My
First Step to Musiclandia
I grew up in a very musical-oriented family.
My father had a band during his high school days when The
Beatles was its summit
of stardom. My mother knows guitar too as well as my relatives
in both sides. My father, who worked also in Saudi from the 80s
'til the early 90s, introduced us the keyboards. It was not
until my mother had the idea to enroll us in a weekend piano
lessons that I get to learn what the black and white keys of the
piano are for. I was in Grade 5 when I skipped noontime
kids' games in exchange with grueling piano lessons with all the
sharps, flats, minors and majors smacked down my face.
II. A Giant Leap to Original Music
Then came high school days when rock, glam and metal music
were at its
peak. Bon Jovi band members were my heroes at that time. Then came Metallica, Motley Crue, Def Lepard
and a lot more. Lead guitar playing was the name of the game so
I asked my father to
check Saudi Arabia's guitar shops for a blazing electric guitar...my
target was--I wanted to rock the stage with guitar chops and tricks.
My classmates and I wanted to form a band but everybody wanted
to be the lead guitarist so I shifted back to going solo
recording original music using crude recording gadgets-->the
cassette tape per se. I got to record very amateurish music with that
love-hate-goodbye themes since that time I feel in love with a
pretty neighbor. Hehe. Soon, came college and I get to complete my
so-called "first album" in cassette tape. That was a feat! :)
That time, I had my first band called MU band mostly
composed of Marketer's Union members. Thus, MU's the name. I
introduced my composition called Majica and when we were invited
to play in the once-in-a-lifetime Philippine Centennial gig at
the University, we never hesitated to be part of a historical
event. Majica was fresh and we were surprised to have good
comments from the crowd and from other bands. Then
came school projects and thesis works, we stopped MU band for
good.
It was really in college days that I get to harness my
craft in composing original songs like one time I was in a pond,
pondering for some words with guitar on hand, thinking on why
the girl of my dreams is so hard-to-get, when suddenly I saw a
frog in a water lily. That moment I got to relate my lovelife to
that of a frog's. Thus, Frogprince (If you Kiss Me Now) was
born. Soon, everyone in my circle of friends sang with the tune
and they encouraged me to write more and the result were...Diwata,
When Water Turns to Blue, Nameless Angel,Crystal Eyes and
Bubble-Like Tear just to name a few.
 III.
Walking to a Magical Road of Original Music
(The Majica Band story, Part
I)
My original songs were plainly recorded in my cassette tape
using a nylon acoustic guitar until one summertime, during a
island hop trip, I got to meet fellow Negrense Dustin Mijares.
Eventually, we became good friends coz we have in common--passion
for music, that is. I let him hear my original songs and
like my other friends, he was captured by my Frogprince and
Diwata tunes. With that, Dustin, a bass player for a local
metal/raprock band called Creepy Crabs, tapped Jevan Noble, a drummer. It was fate
since their guitarist Ronald de la Cruz was about to leave for the
states in a matter of days. That moment I knew that my dream
band will come to life...thus Majica (Ma-hi-ka) became a
flagship for original music in Negros when bands at that time were
usually into party and cover music. I based the name from the
music I composed called Majica which means magic. We met
impromptu-lead-guitar-maverick Carlo Tiangson through Jevan
and our first meeting resulted to an overnight practice with him and the next day,
during a beach gig, we "blew" the heads of
students and other bands with our fresh original sound. Thanks
to Carlo's trail-blazing lead guitars, Majica band's music was
taken to new heights. And that was one helluva first gig.
Memorable, indeed! At first, we were
afraid the audience would not accept our music since it would be
their first time to hear it. But I and my bandmates were
surprised with the crowd's response. So, we continued our
journey.
During our second gig in a certain University Freshman night,
the thunderous claps were ethereal to us. My aim, through my
band, was to change the music scene in my place by promoting
original songs and to encourage new bands to create their
original material, too. Thus, we played Frogprince and
Diwata and other songs "back-to-back-to-back" to inspire others.
 IV. The Yellow Brick Road
(The Majica Band story, Part II)
We had changes in band members too along the way. Due to some conflict in
schedules, Carlo had to say goodbye. My brother Gerard Louie
Pontino came into the picture as a bassist while Dustin shifted to
guitars. With two to three jobs at
that time, I got to finance my recording for Majica band demo
songs like Diwata, Bubble-Like Tear and Frogprince. It was our
first pro-studio recording experience. Soon, the mp3s became sources of our inspiration and to our friends who
heard them. We were also awestruck that finally we were able to
record...a feat at that time when the word "mp3" were still
alien to most people. Local FM stations also broadcast some of
our mp3s when DJs got to hear our recording.
A battle of the bands, organized by Talent Asia, was a great
highlight in our band since we were able to prove our talents
through the power of our original music and spirit of
competition. In the Majica band line-up were Dustin (Bass),
Jevan (Drums and percs) and I (guitarist/vocals) plus
Jimboy Abanil taking the helm of being the second guitarist.
Original music Bubble-Like Tear and Incubus' Wish You Were Here
were our musical pieces...We took home smiling as we got the
10,000 pesos cash prize, a first prize at that, being second next to the
champion band. More than 10 bands with different music genre
participated in the competition.
But, like many other bands, we had to part ways especially when
my job, as a newspaper editor, had a roller coaster
schedule. The yellow brick road became hard for us to walk on so
we parted ways as a band.
But we continued promoting our music for years by setting up the
now-defunct majicaband.com in which free mp3 were available
for downloads .
 V. A Path to EverythingLand
As technology developed, so as the access to high-end
recording became so easy. Right now, home recording is my Mecca and fast computers with recording softwares have
become my soulmates. Soon I found myself writing, performing,
recording, mixing and mastering music track by track alone,
yes, solo, taming my ears and rendering the quality of sound. Early on, I had a series of solo
music projects but I wasn't too happy with them. Practice makes
perfect, as they say. Got to record demo love songs too which
are fit for lady singers. Then composed some commercial jingles
for local products in Pinas. Until
EverythingLand
"came into being" that I soon believe again that
the path to musiclandia is still there. Peppered with
inspiration from the heart plus my near-death experience(s) due to
my gallbladder problem yet was eventually operated succesfully,
EverythingLand has become an anthem for me, my life's anthem.
I'm so glad, It has touched many music buffs when I released it through this website. That's why there's a
hanging question now...The song EverythingLand made others relate
to it and even shed tears because of it-- Will it do the same to you?
Now that I'm in an EverythingLand like Saudi Arabia, away from home, the music
still continues. For sure, you have an EverythingLand in your
life you ought to wander on. Walk the journey...
-- George M. Pontino Jr.
Where are my former bandmates now?
Now, Dustin Mijares is connected with ABS-CBN Bacolod.
Musically, he's with Jimboy Abanil and fellow Negrense Romiivil
"Nephi" Cayabyab and
they call their project band called
Acoustic Alibi.
My Brother Gerard Louie Pontino, had a series of bands with
original music too. One was heavy metal/theatre metal and others
were emo-punk and alternative bands. But, he likes to work solo
now especially in his smooth techno/electronic music, carrying
the alter ego
Ambientsky.
We had the chance to work together on a psychedelic project band
called Alphanum With fellow Manapla (our town) friends, we recorded
a fun and experimental sound.
Guitar ace Carlo Tiangson has some series of bands too and Jevan is
currently preoccupied with his work and family. :)
)))
SOME LISTENERS' COMMENTS ON MY MUSIC (((
From Marko (KSA-based) commenting on EverythingLand:
"I think the song is catchy and just as powerful. I love it
really. You'll get due credit inshallah. This song is so good to
keep. I think this has to fly out of my chest so others will
hear one music that is so good and mood influencing. Why don't
you sell it? Coldplay, What ya think? "
From Marlon (KSA-based)
commenting on EverythingLand:
" I really like this song EverythingLand. it's really touching,
first time I heard it, all I can say is WOW!!! Grabe tol, ur amazing!
I'm
ur fan na di ko akalain na ganun ka ka tindi as
producer/songwriter/vocals a lot :) Sana this song will be
a big hit!!! I enjoy listening to this song."
You can reach me at buhaysaudi@yahoo.com
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