British group Blake sings ‘Manila’ to over 60,000 Filipinos in London
Can you imagine the Hotdogs classic “Manila” sung by gorgeous European men with thick British accent?
Blimey, it's absolutely fantastic!
The music trio Blake sang the ode to the Philippine capital at the gathering of some 65,000 Filipinos working and living in London recently.
While most local singers in the Philippines do cover songs of foreign acts, the English pop-classical quartet is doing the opposite.
“Blake found it a great challenge to sing in Tagalog, but the reaction from the 65,000 Filipinos at Barrio Fiesta and now on the internet too, was certainly worth it,” Blake's website stated.
Video from Facebook
True enough their performance has been making the rounds on social media, with Filipinos in and outside the country raving to hear familiar words from non-Filipino singers. Its Facebook video, for instance, has since been shared 44,000 times and liked by 30,000 more.
“Loved it! Well sung! Shared it to my Filipino family and friends living overseas. There are over 8 million Filipino overseas Overseas Workers. Am sure hearing the song brought them momentarily back home,” user Rachel Sergeant commented.
Lovin’ the Philippines
Composed of Oliver Baines, Humphrey Berney and Stephen Bowman, Blake is a group of former schoolmates who formed the group a couple of months after finding one another on Facebook.
The reunion gave birth to their self-titled debut album released in 2007. They've had three albums since: And So It Goes (2008), Together (2009) and Together: Special Edition (2010).
Meanwhile, it seems the group is really charmed by the Philippines as they’ve been to the country twice last year—first in March (2012) and second in November (2012) for a series of performances for a local mall.
Its former member Jules Knight (he left early this year to pursue a solo career) was reportedly smitten by KC Concepcion after their first meeting early last year. The two reportedly dated, but the relationship didn’t prosper into something even more beautiful.
