by Boy Abunda
When Sitti emerged in the local music scene a few years back, some were aghast with her audacity to barge into the local pop audience with her musical genre.
And when she succeeded in carving a niche for herself, many called her flash in the pan.
Nowadays, no one can contest that she is Philippines’ Queen of Bossa Nova. With three successful bossa nova albums — Café Bossa, My Bossa Nova and Ngayong Pasko — under her belt, and another just-released (titled Contagious, still under Warner Music Philippines), Sitti has grown not only as an artist but as a young woman.
In Contagious, Sitti demonstrates that almost any song can be turned into bossa nova numbers. The 15 remakes in the CD span musical genres that an artist of lesser mettle would have a hard time stamping his signature on.
The artists whose works she does versions of are those even her most avid fans would not expect: Annie Lennox (No More I Love You’s), Sarah McLachlan (Adia) and Sade (Your Love Is King), just to name a few.
She even has an original, titled Is This Love which was co-written by Andrew Fromm of Christian Bautista’s The Way You Look At Me — fame.
(more…)
