DAUG

MUSIKEROS of Davao — veterans and newbies — will gather this Wednesday
for the first anniversary of the city’s biggest musician group, the
Samahan ng mga Musikeros sa Davao, Inc (Samadhi).

A motorcade around the city’s major streets will start by 3 pm at
Magsaysay Park, and will end at Matina Town Square where the musicians
perform at Taboan until midnight.

Titled Samadhi Music Festival 7007, the event will go down to the
memory lane as it will pay tribute to the artists in the 70’s who
started to pop up the music scene in Davao up to newest crop of
musicians of 2007. And with the theme “Davao: Clean Air, Simple Living;
Clean Music, High Thinking,” the event also shows the stand of Samadhi
for environment protection and against drug use.

Samadhi president Arnolfo “Noli” Bencio is inviting all the musikeros —
“performing and non-performing, active and still, the haves and the
have-nots, young and aging, listeners and jammers” — for the so-called
grand reunion of musicians.

Samadhi was formed April last year and was officially launched August
of that year. But the group picked October 10 to celebrate its
anniversary since it was on October 10, 2006 that the Securities and
Exchange Commission formally approved its legal existence.

From a core group of less than a dozen a year ago, Samadhi has
currently more than 200 members — most of them are performers in
various entertainment circuits in Davao City.

Bencio — vocalist of Positive Madness who already traveled and
performed in several Asian, European and American countries — initiated
the creation of the group to unify all the musicians in Davao after
noting the lack of support given to the local players in the industry.

Aiming to promote the safety, welfare, development and progress of
every musician in the region, Samadhi is presently working for health
and medical assistance, insurance, mortuary, and other benefit for the
working musicians. The group aims to form a cooperative that will take
livelihood workshops for its members and family.

For the previous year, Samadhi has conducted a free medical/dental
clinic, food relief, distribution of Philhealth cards, and tree
planting activities. They have sought accreditation from the Department
of Social Welfare and Development, City Tourism Office, and City
Council.

They have also done a number of benefit concerts. The latest was “Save
Me: Teach Your Children” where the city’s best children-musicians
performed for the less-fortunate and abused children.

As part of their social commitment, the group is preparing to hold a
music workshop to street children who have interest in music. The
workshop aims to help the children stay away from drugs and be a
productive citizen who in the future may become a popular musician here
and abroad.

This Wednesday, the grand event will start at Magsaysay Park at 3 pm
for the motorcade. The route will be at Uyanguren, Ponciano, Bolton,
San Pedro, Magallanes, Bolton Bridge, Sandawa, McArthur Highway and go
directly to MTS.

The event will feature who’s who in the local music scene. “Everybody
who wants to perform is free to show their talents,” Bencio said.

Aside from giving tributes to personalities who have contributed to the
local music scene, a special lifetime achievement award will be given
to Ernesto “Erning” Alba, the patriarch of the famous Alba musical
clan.

An exhibit of old photographs of Davao musicians will also highlight
the affair. The old pictures will be used in the upcoming book, Samadhi
Rising, which will chronicle the birth of music in Davao until the
present era.

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