Don Juan Baktas

I know I have been unfair for not telling you about my joy in the music department of my life. So I thought I'd sit down and write all this down, as long as I can remember everything that had happened these past few months in climbing the stairs to my dreams.

"Don Juan Baktas" was formed a year later after my brother's death. Me and my kid bro performed the hymns for our late brother's 40th day. I used my guitar Rusty which I bought on 2005 in Zamboanga City. Alex (my kid brother) didn't have an accompaniment of his own for percussions so he used my Yamaha keyboard for the drum sound effect. After that, we started jamming from there.

So we planned to make an acoustic band of our own. Alex finally bought a Cajon (a wooden percussion instrument in cube form popularly used for acoustic sound) from Cebu. We'd practice songs we love and then upload videos of our sessions at home on YouTube hoping that our talents would be recognized worldwide.

Our passion in music was supported by our good family friend and musical mentor Chuck Mascariñas whom I have mentioned here in this blog when he passed away (link to the said post). We became inactive after his death.

But as when we were hopeless for a musical career, Alex was discovered by an indie film director in their school and was then offered by a male lead role in the upcoming movie "Crossfire". My brother accepted it and spent weeks worth of shooting at the cold mountains of Cagayan de Oro. During post production though, Alex was introduced to the film's scorer who happens to be one of the most influential indie musicians in Davao City: Popong Landero.

Now my family knows Popong Landero, not personally though. We have always been fans of music and his representation of himself and of Davao and Mindanao to the world. We already met him back when Kuya Chuck was still alive but we were only introduced casually. Alex's second meeting of him was more important as Alex was not seen only as a common man but the male lead actor for the movie.

It was even more of an honor when Sir Popong invited Alex to jam at Sea Girt Beach Club. This was sparked while Alex was testing out the new drums at the said place. He asked whether he plays. Alex affirmed this but not professionally and that he plays with me on the acoustic guitars and vocals. That's when he invited us for one set.

We immediately heed his invite and that's when Sir Popong Landero and SAMADhI (Samahan ng mga Musikeros sa Davao, Inc.) were blown away. We were then invited for future gigs in the coming months which included one of our dreams to come true: to be able to perform at Taboan, Matina Town Square--the stage where many local and national musicians frequented and the place where a lot of customers come to dine in, drink and enjoy great music by artists selected as fit to perform.

This was not just an ordinary stage and to perform there in front of many people was an opportunity we never thought that it would come to us in the form of tribute to the passing of the owner of Matina Town Square: Chito Ayala. We did the opening act of SAMADhI's "Easter Sunday Jam" in his memoriam on April 24 this year. It was also the first death anniversary of Kuya Chuck's passing. And since Deo's 4th death anniversary was on May 5, we decided to dedicated a song for these 3 people who meant more to us and that song is Coldplay's "The Scientist" (video can be seen here).

The status of Don Juan Baktas at this very moment is an acoustic rock band now known in the city. I am very happy that my musical side is now founded strongly by our humble beginnings and an opportunity we will never forget. We are forever indebted to Sir Popong Landero for that simple invite and to SAMADhI for giving us our break on one of the many stages we once dreamt to perform on.

"Baktas" in "Don Juan Baktas" means "walk" in the Cebuano dialect (a widely used dialect in the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines). The history of our band name goes back to our childhood roots when we used to take the shortcut from school to our home and vice verse. All throughout our 14 years of studying in Don Juan dela Cruz Central Elementary School, we took that shortcut filled with rocky roads (sometimes muddy after a night's rain), grassy plains with scary bulls grazing, and that narrow wooden bridge on a very large and deep canal that separated the school and the subdivision we're in. But after that ordeal, we'd end up on our final path filled with flowers and gardens. It was one of our most unforgettable experience that me and my siblings share that no matter what lies ahead, we are most positive that we can overcome it (especially of rough childhood). We are not alone in our struggles. Rich or poor, we are all equals taking one step at a time to our "gardens" (metaphorically speaking). We keep moving forward, we walk on. And in our musical journey, even Don Juan walks.

You can check out our updates, gig dates, videos and pictures on our Facebook page (click here) and on YouTube (click here)

We hope you'll continue to walk with us. Rock on wood!

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*I now have a new guitar for better performance as per advised by Sir Popong Landero. "Alice" (which I fondly call it) is a Fender Starcaster acoustic guitar that I bought with my very own hard-earned money.