TRCK OF THE WEEK: DAYAW - BUDDHA'S SISTER
When world music or jazz rock to soul fusion is brought up in any conversation, we bring up international acts like Blood, Sweat & Tears, Santana, and local acts such as Radioactive Sago Project and Hernandez Brothers. If we mention Sago’s importance in the music community for instance, their skilled musicianship and bold take on fusing genres together from classic punk rock to straight up jazz music have made a mark in everyone’s consciousness or to those who want to take a step further in experimenting with the genre. Music is obviously limitless and it never sticks to one particular principle of sound, and so is a community of 9 individuals who play in a band called Dayaw.
Dayaw is an instrumental 9-piece band from Metro Manila. I have never heard of these guys live yet nor I have heard of their material before their single was released. This band has been on our radar recently, and their (debut?) single titled “Buddha’s Sister” got me to reach out to my phone and listen to what they have in store. With that being said, starting this off, the track greets us with a bass line that starts to kick in the very first five seconds of the track. The production here is pretty much ethereal compared to other world music I’ve heard in my experience as a listener. The keys accompany the bass really well while the flutes and the lead guitars provide a very memorable rhythmic performance. The all-embracing explosive atmosphere creates this exciting environment like no other world music outfit can top in long time.
Each section in this 5-minute track has this individual element where Dayaw was able to compose something that’s more of a driving force where world music came from or rather is known for rather than turning the music into a novelty. The flute and rattling hi-hats for instance assists the lead bass and guitars like a sidekick that supports the main highlights throughout each and every sequence.
Overall, Dayaw’s “Buddha’s Sister” almost sounded like the band is crossing over dimensions of psychedelic rock, afrobeat, and jazz while the band never sacrificed for another “free form” wankery style of music that every local band is posing as “real music” or “cool” nowadays. Execution-wise, they haven’t really perfected everything but nonetheless this single of theirs has proved to us that they’re legitimately serious in coming to terms with actual songwriting. It’s a fun track to listen to, go ahead and knock yourself out to it.
LISTEN TO THE TRACK RIGHT HERE: https://open.spotify.com/track/2OAOTVTm9xkW4b6jmujDgb?si=8gKfNJLxQM6fTAKub4yC9w