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THE MESSAGE. BRINGING INTO FOCUS FILIPINO PRESENCE IN AUSTRALIA
www.kalatas.com.au | Volume 5 Number 7 | APRIL 2015
ENTERTAINMENT
Brian Lorenz Impresses Australian
Club Entertainment
FIL-AUSSIE
talented performer Brian Lorenz received a big nod
od
of approval from his peers, fans and supporters in the Australian
club entertainment sector. Brian bested five other nominations to
o
win the Australian Club Entertainment [ACE] Award for Rising Star.
ar.
He was presented the award at the 17th Annual Australian Awards
s
night held on March 18 at the Blacktown Workers Club.
By Violi Calvert
THE yearly ACE awards give
recognitio n to the hard work
and outstanding talents of performers in the club entertainment industry. There were
26 award categories including the Lifetime Achievement
Award and the ClubsNSW Venue Award for Excellence and
Commitment to Entertainment.
Voting was conducted online and involved people in the
club entertainment industry as
well as fans of the performers
and the general public.
In adding the ACE Award
for Rising Star to his previous
recogntion, Brian said: “I feel
very much a part of Australia
now. It is overwhelming and at
the same time humbling being
nominated let alone winning the
award. I am very proud to be a
Filipino making a mark in the
club entertainment industry.”
Brian’s other achievements
include winning in 2013 the
Talent Quest at the Canterbury
Bulldogs Leagues Club and at
Blacktown RSL. In 2012 he
won the the Lakemba Services Leagues Club and the Cabra Vale Talent Quest. He also
won and the Filipino-Australian Talent Quest in 2011.
In addition to singing, he is
also a qualified dancer and won
Silver Medal in Dancing in the
2010 Gay Games held in Cologne, Germany.
Brian has been generous
with talents being shared in fundraising and other community
events. He was among the other Fil-Aussie artists who performed last month at the World
Down Syndrome Day event.
When asked for comments
to upcoming artists in the community, Brian said: “When I
moved to Australia almost seven years ago, I had to build my
life and career from scratch. It
was a constant search trying to
find who and what I want to be.
I love what I am doing and enjoy every moment of it. For my
fellow upcoming artist, find
what you love, love what you
are doing and it will give something back to you.”
Hamon Sa Kampeon
highlights young talents
THE
final of the singing contest Hamon sa Kampeon
(Challenge to the Champion) conducted by Adhika Inc.
last month at Dooleys Lidcombe showed that young
talents abound in Sydney.
By Violi Calvert
SOON to be 18-year old artist from Quakers Hill,
Alyssa Gratil won the top votes of the judges and
the audience with her beautiful rendition of Bonnie
Raitt's song ‘ Can't Make You Love Me”. Her eight
years of training at One Voice Music School was
reflected in her confidence and quality of performance. She received a grand prize of return trip to
the Philippines, a trophy and a copy of the Hamon
Sa Kampeon CD album which was also launched
at the event.
First runner up was Margaret Joyce Poblete who
sang “Ikaw”, with Rvee de la Cruz singing “Black
and Gold” as second runner up. The other contenders were Isabelle Buenavista, Jessyka de la Cruz,
Reianne Urqueza, Angelica (guitarist) and Marielle
Monzon, Ebonie Bru, Robyn Russell and Veronica
de la Cruz. The special participation of Robyn Russell was arranged through Glo and Gerard Ross of
Radyo Canberra.
Guest performers at the finals included Jasmine Henry who also led the singing of the Australian national anthem; Clarissa Bock, Mary Immaculate Choir represented by Angelica, Marielle and Elliot Monzon, Mark Alarcio from Radio Dalisay and
Marcus Rivera.
When asked how she felt about winning the
competition, Alyssa said: “I honestly didn't really expect to win because I thought everyone sang so
well. The contestants were so talented, I was blown
away at how good they were for their age.”
With regard to a future career in music , Alyssa
said: “I plan to just keep singing and performing, to
be more active in events and one day make my own
album. “
The panel of judges was composed of Marcus
Rivera [head judge], Veronica Monro and Jay Gaerlan. The masters of ceremonies were Michelle Baltazar and Charles Chan of Radio Sandigan. Oliver
Gadista was in charge of technical production with
the assistance of Jake Lapuz.
At the event, Adhika Filipino Australian Nurses Award for Outstanding Enrolled /Student Performance, was presented to Tess Chuck by the event’s
special guest Kevin Conolly, Member for Riverstone. The recognition of the contributions of nurses
'An Enchanting
Evening' for Charity
‘AN Enchanted Evening of Dinner
and Dancing’ was held last month
at the All-Saints, Liverpool by the
Visayan Association of Australia Inc.
(VAA Inc.) in association with GC
Events. It was a fundraising event
for the less fortunate children in the
typhoon stricken area of Leyte.
Birthday Celebrants, being charmed by Gez Perez with microphone
was undertaken at previous Adhika event at which
time Tess was overseas.
Overall coordinators of the event were Radio
Adhika producers and broadcasters Gerri and Josie
Musa, Cecille and Jake Lapuz. Josie expressed her
appreciation of the level of participation and the
contributions of Adhika Inc members. She said:
“The event would not be possible without the valuable assistance and participation of Adhika Inc
members comprised of broadcasters and producers
of Filipino-Australian community radio programs
including Adhika, Bandila, Dalisay, Rizal, Sandigan and Tamaraw. The assistance of community news outlets and publications Bayanihan News,
Ang Kalatas, The Filipino Australian and The Australian Filipina in promoting the event was invaluable. We can only get better and we look forward at the next one to again provide a platform for
young artists.”
She said they also aim to achieve their secondary aim to raise funds to continue with providing assistance to libraries in Bicol and support to Haiyan
projects.
Hamon sa Kampeon was a revival of a singing
contest of the same title undertaken by FilPressSyd
Group convenor Jaime Pimentel and other community leaders a few years ago. This event was also to
celebrate the 4th anniversary of Adhika Inc.
By Richard Ford
FUNDS generated will help
augment funds for a VAA
feeding program. The money will be delivered by Miss
Visayas-Australia and Miss
Philippines-Australia 2014
Glyssa Perez following official duties with PASC delegates in Manila this month.
The evening was indeed a
grand event with Miss Glyssa Perez gracing the hall with
her presence. Her brother,
Gez, handled the event nicely
with his entertaining wit and
charm.
The event was made possible by the generosity of the
Perez Family who fed the
guests with a sumptuous array of foods with Visayan zest
amidst a night of dancing and
entertainment provided by
soloists like Stephanie Ber-
nardo, Jasmine Montemayor
Henry and Clarissa Bock.
Among those present at
the event was assistant secretary of the Health Services
Union, Mr Andrew Lillicrap
who earlier gave donation.
HSU has been very supportive of the VAA and Fil-OZ
communities with their donations during calamities in the
Philippines.
A toast was given to birthday celebrants Miss Glyssa
Perez MPA 2014, Josephine
Brown, Cora Paras, Junjun
Salazar and others.
The President turned DJ
Mr Jhun Salazar has provided upbeat non-stop disco music that sent off young and old
to rock n roll all night long.
Mr Steve Woods known as
‘Sparky’ provided the disco lights adding pleasure to
dance the night away.