Bamboo Band - Bio, Albums, Songs and Lyrics - OPM Filipino Music
Story and Songs of Bamboo Band Pinoy Music
Bamboo, today’s hottest pinoy rock sensation, is composed of Bamboo Mañalac and Nathan Azarcon on bass, both ex-Rivermaya members, and Ira Cruz on guitars and Vic Mercado on drums, both former instrumentalists of the Passage Band.
This band is an alternative rock band founded by the ex-vocalist of the Rivermaya band, Bamboo Mañalac, on the year 2002 and was also named after him. He serves as the band’s frontman.
Mañalac and Azarcon, four years after they left Rivermaya, met again and Azarcon introduced him to Ira Cruz and Vic Mercado who were then members of the pop ballad band, Passage. Eventually, the four became friends and formed a new group which is now known as “Bamboo”.
In February 2004, Bamboo launched their debut album, As the Music Plays, and it received a positive response from both fans and critics. The album garnered numerous awards at the AWIT Awards, NU107 Rock Awards, and MTV Awards 2004.
Light Peace Love, their second album, was released in 2005. It consists of ten songs which only took 3 months to record and it has differing moods and subjects. This album has a softer sound in both its lyrics and the way it was delivered. For this album, the band added more strings and some instruments, including a trumpet and used other styles that may catch the taste of new listeners. This was done with the risk of disappointing the fans of their first album which has a more conservative rock style.
Their third album, We Stand Alone Together, was released in 2007. It contains the revived local songs which includes Cabangon’s “Tatsulok” and international songs such as Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” from different generations. It also includes bonus tracks like unplugged versions of their hit songs from the previous albums such as "Mr. Clay", "These Days", and "Hallelujah". Opting to do away with the conventional rock image that was attached to the band, they produced sounds which were more jazzy than expected.
Backed up by ABS-CBN TV Production and MYX, Star Records produced and created the official soundtrack for the tele-epiko “ROUNIN”, wherein the title track “Argos” was performed by Bamboo. Argos is said to be the band’s first venture to record a song for a primetime television show. It is also the first time for the multi-awarded band and Star Records to work together.
The band, together with Gary Valenciano, was part of the “Days of Peace” campaign by UNICEF.
Awards Received
SOP Music Awards 2005 Strictly Alternative Category Winner: "Hallelujah" - Bamboo
SOP Pasiklaband 2006 Best Rock Band: BambooVocalist of the Year: Bamboo Mañalac
MTV Pilipinas 2004 Music Awards Favorite New Artist/Group: Bamboo for "Noypi" Favorite Song: "Noypi" - Bamboo Favorite Group: Bamboo for "Noypi"
MTV Pilipinas 2005 Music Awards Favorite Media Soundtrack: "Fiesta Amazing" (Smart) - Bamboo
MTV Pilipinas 2006 Music Awards Best Cinematography in a Video: Bamboo for "Much Has Been Said"
18th Awit Awards 2005 Best Performance by a New Group Recording Artist: "Noypi" - Bamboo Best Rock Song: "Noypi" - Bamboo People's Choice Favorite Song: "Noypi" - Bamboo
19th Awit Awards 2006 Album of the Year: Light Peace Love - Bamboo Best Performance by a Group: Bamboo Song of the Year: "Hallelujah" - Bamboo Best Ballad: "Much Has Been Said" - Bamboo Best Rock Song: "Hallelujah" - Bamboo People's Choice Award: Bamboo Most Promising Entertainer: Bamboo
NU Rock Awards 2004 Vocalist of the Year: Bamboo Mañalac Song of the Year: "Noypi" - Bamboo Drummer of the Year: Vic Mercado of Bamboo Listeners' Choice Award: Bamboo Band of the Year: Bamboo
NU Rock Awards 2005 Vocalist of the Year: Bamboo Mañalac Album of the Year: Light Peace Love - Bamboo Listeners' Choice Award: Bamboo
93.1 RX Year End Awards 2004 Song of the Year: "Masaya" - Bamboo New Local Artist of the Year: Bamboo Local Group of the Year: Bamboo
89.9 TM Year End Awards 2004 Song of the Year: "Masaya" - Bamboo New Local Artist of the Year: Bamboo Song of the Year: "Noypi" - Bamboo