MANILA, Philippines - The Conspiracy Cafe-Bar (59 Visayas Ave., Quezon City) was launched in late 2004 by six well-known folksingers and their friends, and has since become a kind of mini-concert venue for the arts, a favorite watering hole of artists, writers, students, professors, media persons, and the NGO (nongovernment organizations) crowd.

These habitués come to dine, drink, listen to the music, or just jam with the musicians.

For instance, one night, poet Arnold Azurin came up with a godawful imitation of Elvis Presley.

The over 100 shareholders include Joey Ayala, Bayang Barrios, Gary Granada, Cynthia Alexander, Noel Cabangon and Cookie Chua, lead vocalist of ?Color It Red.?

Of these, it is only Cabangon, the NGO darling, who sings regularly (every Wednesday) at Conspiracy. The others may perform from time to time, or even frequently, but do not want to be tied down to a regular schedule.

Another regular feature is Writers? Night, held every Tuesday. The writers read their poems, do monologues or even sing ( like poet Pete Lacaba with his ?Salinawit? or standards translated into Filipino ), and stage one-act plays.

Performers may include members of writers? organizations from leading schools, and not just the elite institutions.

?The demographic profile or age group changes with each performer,? noted café manager Tita M. de Quiros, a music educator. ?Joey (Ayala) will have his own crowd, the environmentalists, yung mga mahilig sa (those who like) folk-ethnic. Activists go for Noel (Cabangon), while Cookie Chua attracts the young crowd, the rockers.?

Many new artists have gone there and performed, like Diyosa, Julian, guitarist Paolo Santos, and talents from ?Pinoy Dream Academy.? And there are the old talents like Armida Siguion-Reyna.

?We are open to different kinds of music,? said De Quiros.

There was a Broadway Night once, and recent performers have included cellist Renato Lucas and classical guitarist Michael Dadap.

Dadap?s ABCC

Comes now the Andres Bonifacio Concert Choir (ABCC), led by renowned composer-arranger Jerry A. Dadap, which is threatening to unleash its classical-nationalist repertoire upon the denizens of Conspiracy on Oct. 4,

9 p.m.

The ABCC was organized by Dadap in 1983, with its members drawn from the composer?s landmark musical ?Andres Bonifacio: Ang Dakilang Anak-Pawis,? first performed in 1979 at the Cultural Center of the Philippines with a cast of 200.

Since then, the choir has concertized in many venues, public as well as private, but has always set aside Nov. 30 (Bonifacio Day) for its big annual concert at Philamlife Theater in Manila.

The repertoire is classical-nostalgic, with songs and choral works from the Filipino masters, haranas (serenades), patriotic anthems, religious hymns, love songs and regional folk songs, and traditional Visayan songs known as canciones.

An all-Filipino repertoire is the norm. But Dadap broke this rule once with an English-language hymn-cum-message: ?Let There Be Peace on Earth.?

The Oct. 4 concert, partly sponsored by Filscap (Filipino Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers), marks the first time the ABCC will perform at a café-bar (and a literate one at that).