It is always good to love your country. After all, it is where our hearts first rocked the cradle. But through a random stirring into life at one geographical location or another, he found an intense connection with the Philippines. He would mistakenly be called a Filipino without being from the Philippines. Here is the story of American singer/songwriter David DiMuzio who grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. Through his music, he expresses his love for the Filipino culture, the country and that Filipina girl.
Currently based in the Philippines, distance didn’t matter. Technology has its perks. We got an exclusive interview with international artist David DiMuzio.
J: What is it about Filipinos you love so much?
It’s the people and the country that drew me in, the language and music was just a bi-product of that.
J: Having to learn another language is tough, what got you started writing both English/Tagalog songs? Let alone singing them?
I fell in love with the country first before I fell in love with the music. I had already visited the Philippines three times over the course of about 8 months before I ever learned a Tagalog song. So I was pretty instantly hooked, I started loving the language because of the music. As I started listening to songs in Tagalog I wanted to know what the lyrics were saying. I like writing Taglish because I think it has the chance of bringing Filipino music/culture/and language to a much wider audience than “straight Tagalog” songs. Same with K-pop or C-pop, they incorporate English into the songs, as well as Korean and Chinese and its part of the reason more people can relate to the song. I think multi-lingual music is just more interesting, it’s sort of educational at the same time–that it’s extremely entertaining.
J: What made you decide to go to the Philippines and start a career there?
I was already a musician by trade in the US, so naturally if I loved a “place”, I was going to eventually start poking around in the music scene. Lucky for me, the first show I saw was an intimate performance by my still “favorite Filipino songwriter” Rico Blanco. The next time I saw a show of his, I performed a song with him, “Antukin” which was the first Tagalog song I ever learned.
J: We want to know your “Jeepney Love Story”, how did you first know about Yeng Constantino?
Haha…my ex-girlfriend first introduced me to Yeng’s music. She showed me a video of her performing on YouTube and told me that she thought I would really like her music. She was right, Yeng was the first female artist I became a big fan of in the Philippines. I sort of instantly developed a crush on her.
It started with a simple crush, professing his admiration for Filipino’s Pop Rock Princess, Yeng Constantino, via YouTube. David began doing covers of her songs and even making an English version of her song, “Hawak Kamay†[I’m By Your Side]. Immediately, it made waves on social networking sites. Determined that she notice him–half a million hits [YouTube] later, she did. And it didn’t stop there. David wrote a song for Yeng entitled, “Constantly”. The song was written right after they performed together on stage at an event. Inspiration definitely has no limits.
Hawak Kamay – English Version [I’m By Your Side]:
J: How’s your friendship now with Filipino artist, Yeng Constantino after meeting her?
Great, we’re in touch 🙂 [Was not able to get him to elaborate on that]
J: Catching up, what are some of the exciting things you’ve been doing lately? Tell us your experiences so far in the Philippines.
Lately I’ve been collaborating with a lot of other “YouTube artists” that’s been really amazing. I’ve actually found that artists who become popular because of YouTube are generally more excited about collaborating and creating new material than artists that become popular via other media, such as TV/Radio. Three days ago Mikey Bustos and I wrote a new original Taglish song called “Haharanahin Kita.” It’s probably the best Taglish song I’ve ever written, and the video is going to look amazing.
Watch his current release “[I’ll Do Anything] Para Sayo” Feat Top Suzara:
Borders are scratched. This talented artist has redefined boundary as the ability to know where you end and where another person begins. Presently working as an independent artist, DiMuzio has been composing songs for some of the Philippine’s most popular artists. With his approachable persona, YouTube celeb or not, probably the nicest guy I’ve ever met. It’s no wonder his cyber fans are growing vastly making a hit of 70,000 fans on Facebook and 7M views on YouTube. “Now, all of my fans know that “para sa’yo” means “for you” in Filipino.” Mabuhay ka, David!
His album is available on iTunes and Amazon.com
Add, Follow and Watch David DiMuzio on:
http://Facebook.com/DavidDiMuzio
http://Twitter.com/DavidDiMuzio
http://youtube.com/user/daviddimuzio
http://daviddimuzio.com/
Authored Mitch Layno
