JULIA FORDHAM: The Return of the Queen of Bittersweet
Julia Fordham’s Third Time in Manila is the Most Positive Yet
text and photos by Lionel Zivan S. Valdellon

published in PHILMUSIC.com : March 2000

"When I last sang this song, there was a couple who got engaged to be married right here. I don't know if they're here now... Ooooh!!! There they are!" She starts to screech like a little girl as a couple approaches the PICC stage with a wrapped gift. After accepting the gift, she prompts the guys in the audience: "So all the men out there, if you want to propose to anyone, there will be lots of romantic songs tonight that you can go down on one knee to." Then she launches into a crowd favorite entitled "Love Moves In Mysterious Ways". The immediate applause is interjected with squeals of delight from the audience.

This is Julia Fordham.
___ Incisive singer-songwriter. Generous performer. Mellifluous vocalist. The pained lyricist who once wrote "I need another good friend/ Like I need a hole in my head." The woman who writes from the heart, but also the shrieky little girl who is still amazed at computers and the concept of e-mail. A frail-looking woman with a goofy sense of humor which endears her to any kind of audience imaginable.

___ She grew up on the south coast of England in a household with no record player. Nevertheless the music came to her. She began writing songs at 12 years old, and by 14 was performing at local pubs. She moved to London in her late teens, landing a record deal with Virgin Records much later. Nowadays she resides in Santa Monica, California, performing occasionally in the eclectic bars and venues around her. She says about her former residence: "I love London, and I loved living there. But it’s sometimes too…hip for its own good?"

___ She's recorded five albums (and one collection) since she first started out in 1988 with her self-titled debut and the hit "Invisible War". From then she has steadily learned to tell her stories through music, sharing some of the most personal sentiments ever to be recorded in pop, inviting all into her web of "tangled emotions" and shared heartbeats. Her words are introspective, sentimental, honest but never maudlin, and her music walks a wonderful line between jazz and acoustic pop, borrowing the best aspects from both and using them with aplomb.

This is her third time in the Philippines in the past 5 years, the last concert date here a mere 8 months back. And it looks like she's going to be coming back more often in the future. It is easy to see why: Filipinos love her.

YOU WOULD HAVE TO BE A GENIUS TO WORK OUT WHAT IT IS WITH US…

At the press conference last March 7, 2000 a few days before her March 11 PICC concert, PhilMusic was able to ask her about this Pinoy affinity for her music.

"There are two things I think that can explain why Filipinos have taken to my music," she explains. "One is: I don't have any problem being played over the radio. Elsewhere, it's so categorized. You have your pop stations, your R&B stations, your jazz stations... But here, there's quite an eclectic feel to the media."
___ "And the second reason is something that people have been telling me ever since I first visited, and I think I've heard it enough times to believe it: that Filipino people are very romantic. There's something there that resonates."

If you don't believe her, ask the couple who proposed marriage last year in the middle of her concert to the standing ovation of the audience. Julia was screaming in joy over the microphone. "I think I've told everyone about what happened last year. It was the most romantic moment in my life!" she says about the incident.
___ Or ask her Number One Filipino fan, who is present at every single one of her Manila performances carrying placards and wearing his Banana Demon cap (the Banana Demons being the international Fordham fan club). He was at the recent concert and even bared the tattoo on his back to the crowd. Fordham signed his back last year, he promised he would have the signature tattooed.

I KNOW WHY THE CAGED BIRD SINGS…

Back at the presscon, amidst the nonstop flurry of her jokes and her unabashed, earthy laughter, we ask her how she composes her music.

"It's really all in my head. I used to memorize everything. The words and the music come at the same time." She reaches for the guitar really only after most of the song is finished in her mind. Then she passes it on to her arranger (usually Grant Mitchell). Nowadays though she does make it a point to record these songs into a walkman, but not for fear of losing an idea. "I've never forgotten anything, really," she admits in her tasty British accent.
___ And of course there are the stories behind the songs: Like "Manhattan Skyline" a song which appeared unbidden in the back seat of a black taxi on the way (ironically) from Heathrow to London. Or "Where Does The Time Go?" which she wrote at 21 while broke, unemployed and despairing. The fact that she is constantly able to transform what she's going through into a song that someone a world away can relate to, is a natural ability she's thankful for. "I'm very good at turning everyday experiences into a romantic song. My strength is to play on those emotions."

But doesn't this leave her 'vulnerable and totally exposed' as she says in her song "Towerblock"?
___ "Yes it does make me vulnerable. Very. It's hard to be yourself and express yourself in that way. But if you don't... you'll end up doing something contrived and not honest. And your audience can tell when you're not being honest. I'm a truth seeker, and I try to keep myself in that place."

The other thing that truly stands out in her music is that she writes without regard to musical trends or styles. She writes what comes from the heart, dressing it up in silky jazz stylings and folk thanks to influences like Joni Mitchell, Sting and even Cole Porter. Does she think that there will finally be a return to the classic songwriting of the early 20th century?
___ "Well, what's hot right now with young people seems to be either girl pop groups or 5 good looking boys in one group. And ... that'll have its day. There will always be classic songwriters who create music regardless of trends. But it really gets so hard for people to be their true creative selves. You have to be really brave to be yourself. But that's what I'll always do."

I’M ROCKING OUT, I’VE GOT A GOOD REASON TO SCREAM AND SHOUT…

For this year’s performances, Fordham is backed by a 31-piece all-Filipino orchestra composed of Toti Fuentes (the show’s Musical Director) on keyboards, Tots Tolentino on sax, Miong Pacana on bass, Noel Mendez on guitar, Mar Dizon on drums, Bo Razon on percussion, Marina Tolentino, Vicky Salvador, Cathy Castañeda & Zebedee Zuñiga on back-up vocals, and to top off the extravaganza, a string section, brass section (with some members from Ugoy-Ugoy) and a 2-man woodwinds section.

___ Last year, she brought along two players from London but this time around, having experienced the musicianship of Pinoy players, she's entrusted the arrangements and the management of the band to Fuentes and come with only her acoustic guitar and her sister/executive assistant Claire Cross.

___ Her special guest is none other than Gary V, who joins her for two songs, "Where Does The Time Go?" and a samba medley incorporating Bong Peñera’s "Samba Song" (where Fordham does a verse in Tagalog) and "Genius". While Fordham takes a break, Gary does two songs solo: an energetic version of Sergio Mendes’ "Mas Que Nada" and the Al Jarreau/Chick Corea number "Spain".

___ She performed last March 11 at the PICC, Manila, on March 13 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati for the 1st Anniversary of Joey 92.3 FM and March 17 in Cebu City.

___ At the PICC performance, surrounded by a veritable sea of fans, Fordham is at her best, belting out her high notes with ease and regaling everyone with her offbeat humor. The band however, besides being a real improvement over last year’s spare team, seems to be holding back during most of Fordham’s numbers-- the exception being Mar Dizon, whose passionate drumming never ceases to amaze.

___ Two days later at the tightly-packed anniversary party for Joey 92.3 FM (the pop-jazz radio station that brought Fordham over) everyone onstage is more energetic, probably due to more rehearsal time together. The only drawback is the audience, a great majority of the people being high society types who aren’t exactly rabid Fordham fans. There isn’t even enough clamor from the audience for an encore.

___ To make up for it, Fordham is even more bubbly and humorous. At the last line of "Invisible War", a crackling wire disrupts the sentimental mood of the ballad, but instead of getting mad, she says with a laugh, "I’ve been shot!" The audience explodes into fits of laughter. She finishes the song and then giggles.

___ Even side by side with Gary V’s energy, Fordham isn’t about to be upstaged. Although not exactly graceful, she carries on with her own cheeky moves and stage presence.

This much is obvious: Julia Fordham isn’t out to convince you she’s hip or happening. She’s out onstage to share the songs that thread through her consciousness. She’s out there, sincerity personified.

"There's very little separation between my life and my music. The music is sort of all encompassing and relentless."

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