DAVAO CITY — A 44-year-old music company has teamed up with the city government to reach out to kids in promoting music and sports especially in remote areas.
Jericho Fernando, the chief operating officer of JB Music who was with Stephen Speaks singer, Rockwell Ryan Ripperger, in Davao City for the international artist’s last leg of his concert tour dubbed “Alive To Fight”.
Fernando said it is part of his company’s corporate social responsibility program to go to different areas in the country Philippines and help develop programs and teach kids about music and sports.
As a music store, he said JB Music also sponsor musicians like Ripperger, whom he met by accident when the artist was looking for a music store to buy an instrument but ended at JB Music headquarter in Manila.
“After the meeting we became friends then later came the 40 days concert tour of Stephen Speaks in the Philippines.
“A portion of the proceeds will be donated to rebuilding Marawi project,” he said.
Ripperger started doing concert tours in the Philippines before the battle in Marawi. When the campaign to help rebuild Marawi, Ripperger went to Fort Bonifacio and sang for the soldiers who fought in Marawi.
“I don’t know your (soldiers) stories but there is no greater love than doing these for your neighbours,” was the line shared by Ripperger as he related the portion of his encounter with the wounded soldiers.
The song closest to him is “Alive to Fight”. He said Alive to Fight is a new album and “I want to make a music video of that song with the soldiers although I don’t know how we are going to do it I also want to go to Marawi”.
Ripperger said the Philippines is very close to his heart. “The entire country is close to my heart. I love the culture and the people. And the Filipinos have supported me for a living so I give back because they have supported me,” he said.
Other than the “Alive To Fight”, Ripperger also sings the Out of My League, Cold Feet, the Passenger Seat and also Maroon 5’s Sunday Morning, Britney Spears Baby One More Time, Jason Mraz’s I’m Yours in a concert for the Dabawenyos. Meanwhile,
Fernando said JB is partnering with the Department of Education in training school bands.
With this partnership, he said he gets to see actual experiences on the ground and people playing the drums using branches of trees for their sticks. He said JB supports an institution that needs new musical instruments.
“We traded anything whether working or not working fix it clean and donate it to houses, churches that can’t afford to acquire instruments,” he added.
Fernando cited Filipinos for being musically inclined. He said one of the country’s biggest exports are not just nurses but also musicians.
“If you go around Asia in big hotels Filipino musicians are performing. About 90 percent of Filipino musicians from the Philippines are moving and travelling to work abroad to play music in cruise ships and branded hotels in Asia,” he said. (Digna D. Banzon/PNA)
