Gilligan’s rocks with Ozone

Hyatt Regency Hotel’s Gilligan’s rocked Friday night following an explosive performance by the Ozone, a group of five seasoned Filipino musicians that has traveled around Asia during the last five years.

Their wide range of music has already brought them to China, Singapore, Malaysia and Burma where they earned the admiration of those who have seen them perform.

And the Ozone is not stopping there. “We would like to satisfy ourselves by giving Saipan’s discriminating music lovers and party goers the kind of songs they come to Gilligan’s for,” says band member Davius Plama.

Ozone delighted Gilligan’s Friday night crowd with songs from as far back as the 1960’s and 1970’s to as contemporary as those of the Backstreet Boys, Shania Twain, Britney Spears, and the Aerosmith.

Band members were also not able to hide their deep longing for home as they end their Friday night performance with the song Manila, an Original Pilipino Music that speaks of a Filipino traveler’s description of the Philippine capital in comparison with other cities of the world.

According to bass guitarist and Ozone founding member Arnold Fabroa, all of the band members have not been back to the Philippines for five straight years, having been booked to perform at several hotels in different parts of Asia simultaneously.

“Sometimes we can’t help but miss our family, although as what it has always been said, the show must go on. Overseas call is the only thing that bridges the gap between us and our family back in the Philippines,” adds vocalist Lorena Lopez Cueto, the only rose among the thorns.

Thus, the group did not allow their first performance night pass by without dedicating a song for their fellow overseas Filipino workers who have found the Gilligan’s their shelter from homesickness.

Members of the Ozone include guitarist Angelito Calianga, guitarist/vocalist Davius Plama, bass guitarist Arnold Fabroa, keyboardist Flores Allan Tamayo, drummer Gilbert Soriano, and vocalist Lorena Lopez Cueto.

The group has been performing professionally for the past few years. Ozone’s live performances have filled up venues at various five-star hotels in Asia like Holiday Inn-Shanghai, Grand Blue Wave-Malaysia, Kings Hotel-Singapore and Planet Eurora in Myanmar. (Aldwin R. Fajardo)