Apo Hiking Society - Filipino Musicians

The Story of Apo Hiking Society

APO Hiking Society is a group of Filipino musicians Jim Paredes, Danny Javier and Boboy Garrovillo. They are creative songwriters, humorists and excellent singers. The band was known of composing hit songs of pop in Philippine music scene for more than three decades.

APO Hiking Society caught the attention of the people in 1973 on their farewell concert in Meralco Auditorium but now Meralco Theatre in Pasig City, Metro Manila. It was composed first of four members and known as “Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society”. Two of them were supposed to leave. One was planning to leave for Turkey and then other was waiting for his position in the advertising form of his father. The trip for Turkey was not materialized and remained with the band while Lito de Joya left the band.

Apo Hiking Society Music Playlist

The band became a threesome and pushes their way to fame and fortune. Unexpectedly, their farewell concert for two stromy nights was a hit the following year. Since then, APO was able to produce 22 record albums and hosted several televison shows. They have their own nootime Sunday show named “Sa Linggo nAPO Sila”. The band launched many sold-out major solo concerts and innumerable shows both local and international. They did remarkable performance in almost 50 cities in United States, Indonesia, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Japan for Filipino citizens around the world.

The band became the first Filipino pop artist to perform at the Mall Hall of New York’s prestigious Carnegie Hall in their annual U.S. Tour on October 1987. In Massey Hall in Torondo, they manifest their excellent in their performance and both concerts were sold-out. In addition to this recognition, APO were the first Filipino artists to perform a public concert in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and were the first Filipino artists to be recorded in a compact disc in 1987.

In April 1986, such great honor for the band when Jim Paredes’ Handog Ng Pilipino Sa Mundo was recorded by 15 Filipino Artists as the anthem of the bloodless revolution. An English version entitled A New and Better Way was launched in Australia after few months. The song was released on February 1987, the first anniversary of Philippines’ People Power Revolution in London, England. Its lyrics were written in the wall of Our Lady of Edsa Shrine, where the revolution takes place.

They even receive an award as the first “Dangal ng Musikang Pilipino” by Awit Awards in 1994. They were also bestowed the highest accolade given by Jesuits in the field of culture and arts, the Tanglaw Ng Lahi Award.

They put strong impression on the hearts of the Filipino people. In this connection, several artists, single or a band contributed songs for a compilation or album dedicated to APO Hiking Society. The album was named “Kami nAPO Muna” and the recent second album of the same name. The final compilation album was entitled “Kami nAPO Muna Ulit”.