www.sittionline.com

By Boy Abunda

I don’t like the concept that when one refers to someone being pretentious or hypocritical, he says “showbiz ka.” Even if said in jest, it still annoys me. But I also understand that it’s coming from the fact that showbiz indeed is a make believe world. Who was it who said that show business is the sum total of all the quotable quotes pronounced by its denizens?

I always tell friends who are not too familiar with the celebrity industry that we may thrive in magical chaos but when catastrophe engulfs the entertainment industry, there is an instinctive movement to get together and to take care of one another. Barbra Streisand once said that she hoped for people not to wait for tragedies and calamities to be good to one another. True, but I can’t complain about goodness exercised anytime of our life.

I also tell people that you can find true, loyal and enduring friends in the business.

I asked some celebrities about this and who their friends are. Read on:

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DIRECTLINE By Boy Abunda

Fresh from a successful Christmas concert and the release of her certified platinum Christmas album, bossa nova diva Sitti Navarro, best known for her soothing voice and captivating charm, still can’t get over gushing over her very successful 2008.

“I feel so blessed,” Sitti shared during an intimate conversation over a sumptuous lunch at Café la Carmela on Jupiter Street in Makati City. “The previous years have been very blessed, and I would like to give them back to the people who continue to watch my concerts, and buy my albums.”

After three years in the music business, Sitti can’t help but be overwhelmed when she looks back at the years that were.

She recently had a Christmas concert titled An Evening in December with Sitti at the Music Museum. In one evening to remember, Sitti, along with Christian Bautista, Richard Poon, and the Hiyas ng Pilipinas Children’s Choir, serenaded the audience with cuts from her latest album Ngayong Pasko, which has just been certified platinum for selling more than 25,000 copies.

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By Alwin M. Ignacio

The biggest asset of Sitti Navarro, or simply Sitti, is undoubtedly her singing voice. It is cheery and soothing at the same time. It surprises, captivates and above all makes you appreciate bossa nova.

Bossa nova (which is Portuguese for “new trend”) is a style of Brazilian music that evolved from samba, but is more complex harmonically and is less percussive. It was popularized by Antonio Carlos Jobim, Vinucus de Moraes and Jojo Gilberto. In the Philippines, people dig bossa nova because of Astrud Gilberto (former wife of Jojo), who gave us the very playful “The Girl from Ipanema” and the heart-tugging “Certain Sadness.”

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