The seven members of Sansette pose at a beach on the Philippine island of Cebu. Courtesy of Sansette
By Jon Dunbar
As temperatures continue to drop in Seoul, a warm breeze is blasting up from the south. Sansette, a seven-piece Filipino band, is bringing a bit of that eternal summer warmth they enjoy on their home island of Cebu this weekend.
"It will be our first time playing out of the country — and in a different climate as well," Gabriel Villacarlos, the band's main singer and songwriter, told The Korea Times. "If we do our job well the warmth of our music will still be felt regardless of the weather conditions."
The band made a splash in 2019 with their debut single "Sunburn," a suitably warm, breezy track said to describe a summer fling.
"There is just an ease to the city that is Cebu. It is a slow-coastal-tropical-insulated type of living. It is simple and it is all we know, because most of us were born and raised here," Gabriel, who introduced himself as Gab, said.
The Original Pilipino Music (OPM) band's home base on the tropical island holds a strong, unifying influence over their sound.
"As a band with a lot of members — and a ton of different musical influences — having an anchor point to draw from was important for us to say something unified and cohesive as a band," Gab said. "I feel like we are very Cebuano — even if most of our songs are in English — and very tropical sounding which makes us different from most OPM acts."
Even the name Sansette, pronounced "Sunset," evokes that feeling. The band name is a conjoined word, formed from "sans" or without, and "sette," meaning the number seven in the local Bisaya dialect, hence "not seven."
"The thought was that it wasn’t just the seven of us that were making the music — we had our producer and all the people in our lives directly and indirectly contributing to the music," Gab said.
The members of Sansette stand in the water. Courtesy of Sansette
He described the Cebu music scene as "rich in stories and flavor," with a great deal of variety comprised of different cliques and pockets of different genres, as well as age groups.
"We have local history, we have legends of our own, and we have our legendary third places," he said. "Locally and internationally, we want our city to be known. We want the rest of the world to know that the Cebuano 'condition' exists and we are here living it — and the vibes are great here."
Sansette secured an invitation to play two shows in Seoul from SUPERSONIC STUDIO, a content creator company that produces various content about indie music and indie culture, after meeting members of the Seoul-based organization visiting Cebu.
"I think a few of us have visited Korea before," Gab said. "For the rest of us, we are going to this country blindly. Although our country has been such a consumer of K-culture throughout the years, we are excited to see how Korea really is out there."
Their first show will be at Culture Station Seoul 284 RTO in central Seoul on Saturday. It's part of a culture exchange program, titled "indie’s moment live: Anywhere, In Your Own Way," that will also invite two other acts, Busan indie pop band Hathaw9y and Thai singer-songwriter wadfah. As well, Karl Lucente, the producer of Sansette and a member of fellow Cebuano synth-pop duo Mandaue Nights, will give a presentation about Cebu's music scene at a pre-event of the program starting at 1 p.m.
"We are not familiar with the other acts that are participating," Peter Cambonga, the band's saxophonist, admitted. "We are excited to meet them and listen to their music live, as well as learn more about their musicianship and different cultures."
Sansette and Mandaue Nights will also play an after-party show on Sunday at Gongsangondo.
Visit @sansettemusic on YouTube to hear more of Sansette's music, or follow @supersonicstudiokr and @culturestationseoul284 on Instagramfor more information.
English (United States) ·