MANILA, Philippines ? You don?t know Pinoy ?rakenrol? until you?ve lived it. No, I?m not talking about turning back time and living in the 60?s of Pepe Smith and the Juan Dela Cruz band. (Wouldn?t that be fantastic though?).
What I?m talking about is being made to go through a day of surprises, forcing you to just let go and let be. ?Rakenrol!? as Pepe has told us countless times.
At the Red Horse Beer Muziklaban Media Challenge, this was the one thing that rang real and true. Kicking off RHB?s 11th Muziklaban, the media challenge began too early in the morning (a 7 a.m. calltime, goodness!), with us racing all the way to SMC?s Management Training Center in Tagaytay.
We were told it would be more fun than fearful, but I couldn?t help but imagine the worst: eating some creature I would rather step on and kill in a heartbeat.
Ah, but the truth about expecting the worst is that you end up rolling with the punches. Rakenrol na lang talaga! Which, for the three non-athletic kikay girls of Team Lupit, first involved trying to make our uniforms more, uh, girl-friendly. So we folded the sleeves of our large Muziklaban shirts and knotted it at the waist. We wore our white bandanas as peasant kerchiefs. And we decided that we would have fun and not take everything too seriously.
Of course we wanted to win, but, heck, we also wanted to enjoy ourselves. We even cheered the other teams on?how?s that for team spirit? Faced with challenges that were unfamiliar and therefore difficult, there really was nothing for us to do but have fun.
Try tattooing the Red Horse logo on raw pig skin, for one. Or climb up a wall while gathering pictures of Muziklaban?s endorsers (my teammate Nicki was just fabulous and scored pogi points here). How about riding a bike on rough terrain and trying to do a bunny hop (impossible for non-pros, as it turned out). Or, trust your teammates and allow yourself to fall backward into their open arms (the plunge my co-kikay Camille took).
New endorsers
All of these activities were our introduction to the expanded Muziklaban project of RHB. Now tagged as ?Bago na ang Labanan!?, the event has moved from being just a rock band competition to one that now includes tattoo, extreme sports and indie film challenges.
The new endorsers include tattoo artist Ricky Sta. Ana (who single-handedly put Pinoy tattoo art on the world map), extreme biker Armand Mariano and indie filmmaker R.A. Rivera (whose more familiar works are the most creative music videos in recent years), alongside legendary rockstar Pepe Smith.
All of them, save for Pepe, are a surprise to see selling beer?RHB at that, and its reputation as an extra strong beer. There seems to be a discipline to each individual?s craft that requires sobriety and focus. But, said Ricky, ?Pag-umiinom ka, dalawa lang naman ang puwedeng puntahan e... sa masama at sa mabuti. Everything in moderation lang. [Drinking leads to two things ? good or bad. Everything in moderation].?
Spoken like a true Red Horse Beer drinker, yes? But also spoken like a true artist who knows and acknowledges that creativity isn?t entirely distinct from the high that alcohol brings, or the relationship between the pain of getting inked and having some alcohol in one?s body.
In individual conversations over beer and cigarettes at the dinner cum concert that followed the race, it became clear to me that for all these three young artists, there was nothing contradictory about their craft and this endorsement.
When asked about the possible criticism that this was a form of selling out, all three spoke of their relationship with RHB as a partnership. They weren?t mere individuals hired to sell something; they were artists collaborating with a brand to promote their own sub-cultures as a valid creative force.
As far as Ricky, Armand and R.A. were concerned, this was about teaming up with the beer brand that?s part of their lifestyles, and being able to promote their art in the process. It?s a win-win situation.
Creative win
Which was true for our White Team, even when we placed last in the race. Because we won the more creative aspect of the competition?the indie film challenge. As R.A. said, our director Kuya Ruel?s camera skills were flawless. But there was also the rest of the team, all willing to act out our parts.
If there was anything missing at this launch, other than Pepe who expectedly didn?t arrive, it was seeing Armand do his thing on a bike, Ricky doing someone?s tattoo (I would?ve volunteered in a heartbeat!), and RA doing a film or a video of the days? proceedings.
In the end, this day with Red Horse?s Muziklaban launch was ?rakenrol? for contemporary times, as breathed, lived and created by a young generation of artists?unconventional, revolutionary, quirky and unique in turns. After all, there is nothing that screams ?rakenrol? louder than a bunch of iconoclasts led by Pepe Smith.
