From Olongapo to Dubai, it’s all about music for Accento Band

AL AIN, United Arab Emirates — If you're a regular at Boracay Night Club in Dubai's Asiana Hotel, chances are you've cheered or at least familiar with the all-Filipino group Accento Band.

“The group started as a four-piece acoustic band in Olongapo City in 2005,” shared Oyo Sombillo, the 31-year-old band leader, via email. “After two years, it was reformed into a full-show band consisting of six members.”

At first, they wowed audiences in their backyard — Olongapo, Subic, Pampanga, Bataan and Manila, playing in bars, clubs, hotels and other similar establishments.

A couple, Delfin and Loida Rojas, who was impressed after seeing the young band's videos on YouTube in 2012, became their ticket to an overseas gig.

“Accento Band was selected among the 20 other bands,” Sombillo said, recalling their audition.

The band landed in Dubai in August last year, where they were booked for three months. Because of positive feedback from the audience, their stay was extended for three more months.

It was also in Dubai where the Accento Band grew as a family.

“The band consisted of seven members then,” Sombillo said. “It was the management of the Boracay Night Club that asked us to add another two female singers.”

The Accento Band went back to the Philippines last February, but was rehired by the Boracay Night Club after four months. One of its male vocalists, however, opted to stay home to manage a comedy bar he and his wife established in Olongapo.

Accento

Aside from Sombillo, who plays the guitar, the group now consists of vocalists Garrett Bolden Jr., 23; Jenny Claire Carabeo, 31, Peejay Grey, 24, and Mariz Escamillas, 21; keyboardist Dhax Sobrenilla, 31; bassist Arvee Villarosa, 32; and drummer Jhed Llgas, 29.

All the band members consider music as their passion. Bolden Jr., in fact, will be auditioning for “American Idol XIV.”

Sombillo said shared interests also keep them together. “We [also] love travelling, being on stage and performing for different kinds of people.”

“This is the kind of job where we can use our talents but also get paid. It’s like we are just playing and enjoying ourselves, entertain people while given compensation for us to support our family's financial needs,” he continued.

They named their band Accento after a term commonly used by musicians in giving emphasis to a speech.

Challenges

But like in anything else, being in a band is no walk in the park. According to Sombillo, challenges would sometimes hound the band, the most common of which is sickness among members, like when one of their female vocalists had a throat infection, prompting other vocalists to fill her part.

“Whether or not they could attend the gig, the overall performance will still be affected,” Sombillo said.

The Accento Band would also encounter demanding and hard-to-please audiences—both Filipinos and foreigners—from time to time.

“They must think that as a band, we should know and able to sing all [the] songs that exist in this planet. In those situations, we just jokingly say that ‘Sir/Ma'am, even the karaoke machine doesn't have all the songs. [And] that also goes with us; we are just human beings’,” Sombillo said.

There were also the “internal” problems, Sombillo said their band always tries to settle them and act professionally onstage.

And of course, there was homesickness.

“The salary we are getting here is enough to support our families in the Philippines,” Sombillo shared. “That’s the only sad part. We actually love performing in our country and we want to be always with our family, but we are not being paid enough there.”
 
No matter what the odds are, the Accento Band, however, is determined to keep on performing.

“As long as we can see that there are still people who want us to perform, as long as we can support our family with this job, and as long as the group shares the same passion and views, the Accento Band would continue giving entertainment to our audience,”  Sombillo said. —KBK, GMA News