Volume 7, Issue No. 27
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
. . . . . A community service of The Filipino Web Channel (TheFilipinoWebChannel@gmail. com) and the Philippine Village Voice (PhilVoiceNews@gmail.com) for the information and understanding of Filipinos and the diverse communities in North America . . . .
Our latest as of Thursday, November 27, 2025
~ The reference to a "second coming" is far from religious. For lack of a better phrase, it's used here as it aptly describes this first-ever reunion the songwriter and musician Mon Torralba (aka Pers Lab) had initiated in Toronto with co-marquee artists of the iconic Hotdog band, namely, Ella del Rosario, Jess Garcia, and Lorrie Ilustre. The gathering took fans and music lovers back in time, rekindling sweet and bitter memories about life, romance, escapades, and juvenile misadventures in the homeland.
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MANILA SOUND IN TORONTO
The Second Coming of
Mon Torralba and Hotdog Band
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
“The sweetness of reunion is the joy of heaven.” ―
TORONTO - The moonstruck lovers of Filipino music stepped back in time this last weekend reminiscing the sweet and bitter memories of an era long gone but still lives in our hearts.
But for the unpleasantness some had experienced, time has mellowed them, and this reunion of sorts of one of the best, if not THE best, bands in the Philippines has brought forth jubilation and tears of joy, even momentarily.
Sentimentality hung in the air, no doubt triggered by both the music and songs the people had performed, a confirmation that Mon Torralba, Ella del Rosario, Jess Garcia, and Lorrie Ilustre - the music darlings of generations - are still very much in the running as they were five decades ago.
The quartet is what remains of the iconic Hotdog band whose spunky music dominated the airwaves during the politically turbulent state the Philippines was going though in the seventies.
The language of Manila streets found its way to the Hotdog lexicon, providing an alternative to musical mainstream expressed in captivating harana and kundiman, the old-fashioned genre of the time.
Mon Torralba's Pers Lab is the perfect example of this. (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6b8B2MvhTg). The secret to its wide acceptance is its resemblance to the way people talk. The lyrics might sound colloquial but that's how unpretentious folks speak in their daily lives.
Feel this: "Ano bang gayuma ang gamit mo at masyado akong patay sa'yo?" Then there's the seductive O, Lumapit Ka vocalized by Ella del Rosario whose alluring voice entices people to listen. See how her song teases . . . "Kung gusto mo akong halikan/Bat kita sasawayin?/Alam na alam mo namang/Ito'y gusto ko rin . . . " (Video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnHoYDXU5PE)
The Hotdog band not only changed the music template, it kindled a cultural shift and a lifestyle which put the Philippines on the world map as a country invested in the arts.
The four - Torralba, Del Rosario, Garcia and Ilustre - and others who had passed away, are the originators of Manila Sound, which refashioned Philippine music history into Original Pilipino Music (OPM) as we know today. They are the transformative figures of another age.
Mon Torralba's Music & Memories concert traveled back in time and succeeded in reliving that moment with the enthusiastic assists of del Rosario, Garcia, and Ilustre, and corroboration with a new generation of artists such as Rhett de la Cruz, Alyssa Grace, Maria Panaligan, Pabs Quiogue, Chyrell Ronquillo, Rodney Ronquillo, and Bevs Saraza.
That it was star-studded was enough to pack the Toronto Pavilion on Saturday, Nov. 22, 2025. That it was the Hotdog band performing live moved people to see its surviving members again, more than 50 years after the fact.
Shirley Beralde, a registered nurse, came with her colleagues and felt nostalgic with Hotdog music. "It's gratifying to see and hear them, especially because they rekindle memories, knowing they were part of growing up," she says.
Related videos:
Gene Elamparo was at the concert to celebrate the years she was in high school in the seventies in Manila. "The Hotdog memories are really mine. Pers Lab was my favourite. Lots of memories for that song. High school - that's the best years of my life," she volunteers.
Why Pers Lab? "Secret," she says laughing. "I just want to remember the happy and not-so-happy memories of the past." Indeed, to her the music worked like a balm.
Music & Memories had been a sentimental journey, a happy and beautiful occasion for many, and a treasured recollection of what life was in the homeland. (Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved).
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