MANILA, Philippines – When Ebe Dancel, self-professed tito and writer of the most poignant love songs in OPM, tells you you’re going to have fun, you will have it.featuring the Manila String Machine. “The way I want to celebrate tonight is that I talk less and play more songs. I hope that’s fine,” said Ebe after playing several songs, including the painfully hopeful “Prom,” in succession.The night was special, for sure.
“Dapit-Hapon,” a painful hymn to breakup and the waning moments of a dying love , has, without a doubt, become the background music for one’s mostPhoto by Paul Fernandez/Rappler “Burnout,” a song Ebe says isn't about love at all, begins with an audible sigh and “okay” from the singer. Has he bid musical burnout goodbye too? Or is he saying that just like him, we can survive and thrive despite the burnout?
“A big part of it is that I know I’m not alone. And someone out there is feeling the exact same thing. It’s always very important to remind each other that we are not alone,” he added, before playing an acoustic version of “Wag Ka Nang Umiyak.” Every Ebe gig, whether it be solo or with old and new collaborators, always feels intimate. His concert at the massive Metrotent Convention Center, didn’t feel any less so.
Twenty years in an industry as potentially egotistic, cutthroat, unkind, and simultaneously soul-enriching as the one he's in, is no easy feat. That Ebe is thankful he’s made it, and will continue to make it, isn’t lip service.