MANILA, Philippines?For two nights at the jam-packed Meralco Theater, power was not limited to electricity. In his concert ?Power of One,? Erik Santos proved that his voice is a force that could energize the entire hall.

The 27-year-old pop singer hit the high notes without resorting to falsetto, as older veterans like Martin Nievera are prone to do.

In fact, Santos showed how a guy can belt it out by doing a medley of Celine Dion, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston hits.

In the high-pitched chorus in Dion?s version of ?All By Myself,? Santos soared without difficulty.

Defying translation

?Tanggalan ng ngala-ngala? was how he described the feat, which defied any translation.

?Kapatid, you sing as if there?s no tomorrow,? Regine Velasquez told him. She was the female guest on the gig?s second night, appearing after Piolo Pascual and Christian Bautista performed their signature hits.

To everyone?s delight, all three guests did duets with Santos. They also waived their usual talent fees for Santos, who produced the two-night shows.

Regine preaches
Velasquez sang a toned-down version of Madonna?s ?Papa Don?t Preach,? rearranged by Homer Flores, the show?s music director and leader of the back-up band. But Velasquez did some preaching actually, when she said it?s time for Filipino performers to support their fellow local talents, sans network affiliations.

Foreign concerts outnumber local ones, she said: ?Last time I checked, the ratio was 10 is to 1 and it?s sad.?

Santos also rendered medleys as tributes to Nievera, his idol; Broadway musicals and theme songs of ABS-CBN drama series.

The finale was another showcase of vocal pyrotechnics, or ?tanggalan ng ngala-ngala.? Together with the UP Singing Ambassadors, Santos sang ?I Believe I Can Fly? and his signature hit, ?This Is The Moment.? His voice melded perfectly with the first and only Asian choir to have won the Grand Prize in this year?s Arezzo competitions in Italy.

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?My mentors? was how Aiza Seguerra described The Company, her guests in her recent show titled ?I Am Changing? at Metro Bar in Quezon City.

Incidentally, the vocal group?s founding members, Moy Ortiz and Edith Gallardo, were the composers of Seguerra?s monster hit, ?Pagdating ng Panahon.?

Shouting for ?Panahon?

Some 1,000 people turned up to watch the gig. A group of men, already noisy from having one drink too many, kept shouting for ?Panahon? as soon as Seguerra took over the stage from front act Frio, a show band projecting itself as a serious rock group.

Amid sneers and raucous laughter, what seemed to be an earnest request from alleged fans sounded annoying, as they kept on screaming for ?Panahon? while Seguerra played on.

She had to explain that everyone should wait, as she was reserving the tune for her second set.

Backed by her regular sessionists Angelo and Mike Villegas on bass and guitar, respectively, Budeths Casinto (percussion), Jonathan Urbano (violin) and Ria Villena-Osorio (keyboards), Seguerra did a couple of originals and covers from her past albums.

Her acoustic versions of folk-rock gems reminded us of a Saturday segment once upon a season in ?Eat Bulaga,? where she was a mainstay as a child star-co-host and, later in her teens, as a rising acoustic singer jamming with Vic Sotto.

Acoustic treat

She brought us back to that noon-time acoustic treat with The Beatles? ?Come Together? and ?Till There Was You,? Bread?s ?Aubrey,? Simon and Garfunkel?s ?Bridge Over Troubled Water,? The Corrs? ?Runaway,? ?Moon River? from the movie ?Breakfast at Tiffany?s,? and Michael Jackson?s ?Man in the Mirror.?

She also covered Color It Red?s ?Paglisan? and a couple of Eraserheads stuff.

In between her sets, The Company sang about five songs, the highlight being a tribute to Charice Pempengco?s stint in ?Glee??an a cappella version of Journey?s ?Don?t Stop Believin.??

Videoke moment

Finally, when Seguerra proceeded to play ?Panahon,? the rowdy group of drunks everyone wanted to haul outside screamed like spectators in a gay beauty pageant.

As expected it was a videoke moment for more than 1,000 voices.

A self-confessed fan of The E-heads, Seguerra encored with ?Ang Huling El Bimbo,? which provided the occasion for another happy, sing-along moment.