Superstar Sting and amazing musician Chris Botti thrilled a packed house in a recent concert at the Grand Ballroom of Marriott Hotel Manila.
The audience went gaga over the exclusive performance of the British singer-songwriter, and the renowned American trumpeter who once toured with Frank Sinatra, no less.
Singer Emmanuelle Veneracion Adda performed jazz standards before announcing a special raffle prize: round-trip air tickets to Paris for two, courtesy of Emirates Airlines.
Then Botti appeared onstage. The boyish trumpet player regaled audiences with more standards accompanied by mesmerizing violinist Caroline Campbell.
Sting appeared midway through the set amid deafening cheers. Wearing a dark blazer over a T-shirt that showed off his toned physique, the former front man of The Police immediately launched into “If I Ever Lose My Faith in You,” followed by other hits such as “Roxanne,” “Seven Days” and the cool, jazzy “Moon Over Bourbon Street.”
While Sting took a quick break, Botti performed again, accompanied by one of his backup vocalists and by Campbell on the violin. Sting returned to do a few more songs, including “Message in a Bottle” and “Desert Rose.”
Sting also covered the Bill Withers original “Ain’t No Sunshine,” and Botti joined him in a few other songs, including a stirring cover of the Sinatra classic “In the Wee Small Hours.”
“Sting and I have known each other for about 20 years,” Botti said. “He’s one of the finest musicians of his generation. When Sinatra died, I asked him to sing this song as a tribute. His secretary called me back to say he would do it, but only if I agreed to fly to Italy and record with him on his next album. Guess who got the better end of that deal,” he said, to laughter from the audience.
Sting, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, finished the set with “Every Breath You Take,” before coming back to do two encores—the first was “Englishman in New York”; and the second, the tender ballad “Fragile.”
Swinging birthday bash
Disco in Manila was first heard in the late ’60s but blossomed in the ’70s in such places as Black Angel, Coco Banana, Circuit, Velvet Slum, Where Else?, Queue and Another World.
The music reached its peak in the ’80s with the advent of Stargazer, Louie Y’s, Isis, Gold Mine (Baguio), Bai (Cebu), Faces, Euphoria and Rumors.
During this transition, the DJ eventually became the focal point in clubs, admired for his ability and talent to fill the dance floor. He was followed by the Talking DJ, better known as the Console Artist.
The man behind all these disco transitions and technical innovations is audio genius Wopsy Zamora, who became known as Manille’s Disco Sound King.
Disco ’70s-’90s was the birthday-bash theme of beautiful and bubbly Agile Zamora. Dubbed Party People Know How to Enjoy Life, the celebration was held at Sage Bar of Makati Shangri-La.
That Agile, one of the town’s top party girls, is married to the Disco Sound King is quite a match made in heaven.
With a power couple behind the party, it was no surprise that Makati Shang was filled with Agile’s closest pals—Hans T. Sy, Delfin Wenceslao, Noel Onate, Dennis Villareal, Chavit Singson and Mari Lagdameo, to name a few.
Top DJs Boyet Almazan, Manolet Santos and Elmer Dado, and his percussion Grupo Tribale kept the crowd on the dance floor all night. But the real treat was watching Wopsy man the turntables himself for almost two hours.
Naturally, Agile was unstoppable on the dance floor, proving to one and all that party people indeed know how to enjoy life!
Wishing Agile all the best on her 48th year!
Off to Tokyo
And so it came to pass. It was time for Sonja Vodusek to pass the torch to her successor, Peninsula Manila’s new general manager Mark Choon, before jetting off for Tokyo to assume her post as general manager of the hotel in the Japanese capital.
It was definitely an evening filled with gratitude as Sonja thanked the people who had made her stay in Manila so memorable. She made particular mention of Peninsula Hotels chief operating officer Peter C. Borer and human resources group director Sindy Tsui, who flew in from Hong Kong for the affair. She also thanked her “wonderful hotel team” and all the friends she made in the past five years.
“The Peninsula Manila has always been a wonderful training ground for new general managers,” the teary-eyed Sonja said. “I remember a piece of advice given to me by Peter C. Borer when I first came here: ‘Once you do Manila, you can do anything.’ I think he is a great testament to that since he is now Peninsula Manila’s COO!”
In his welcome speech, trés charmant Mark Choon said, “I am not a stranger to the Philippines as my lovely wife Jennifer is Filipino. Moving to Manila and taking on the mantle of general manager of Peninsula Manila is a bit of a homecoming for me and my family.”
He added that his job is to continue the legacy of all the general managers before him—to keep the hotel on the path that was set out for it from the day it opened its doors 40 years ago on Sept. 14, 1976.
“I look forward,” he said, “to carrying the torch that has been passed on to me—to ensure the hotel’s future for our next generation of guests and staff, to support and give back to the community that has held us in its affections all these years, and to be Manila’s premier hotel.”
