Music in his veins

Marianas Music Video producer A.J. Baldevia has music running through his veins and it’s giving him visions of the entire island bopping to a pulsating beat.

Baldevia and his partners put up Marianas Multimedia a couple of years ago to provide local artists with a venue to pursue a career in the music industry.

He handles all production issues, while partners Frank Pangelinan and Edward and Shirl Camacho take care of the business side.

The company produces MMV, a television program featuring local music videos. Some have called it Saipan’s MTV.

“Our goal here is to localize international appeal. Everything on the show is original, including the music and the production. A lot of artists who work with us are motivated and we want to offer them an opportunity to get a multi-dimensional kind of exposure,” Baldevia says in an interview.

He laments that island music at present is too mechanized, almost lifeless. It is his hope to get artists out of their comfort zone and help “take local music to the 21st century.”

Local artists, he adds, need encouragement to become a little bit more original and in touch with who they are and where they come from.

Born in the Philippine city of Iloilo, Baldevia himself has not forgotten his origin. Although he left the Philippines at the early age of five and describes himself as a student of Chamorro culture for 30 years, Baldevia remains fluent in his original dialect—Ilongo. He could also carry on a conversation in Tagalog if he has to.

The combination of music and video is yet another language through which Baldevia communicates.

“Music and video is a powerful medium that can enable artists to communicate to the rest of the world how unique they are,” he says.

MMV is the culmination of Baldevia’s lifelong work in media, which includes broadcasting, performing, songwriting, concert organizing, and even publishing an arts and music magazine on Guam.

But his work is far from done: “I want to see MMV go 24 hours, seven days a week, featuring local artists, entertainment features, and coverage of important events happening in the Pacific. I also want to expand the program that will interest all people from different ethnic backgrounds living in the CNMI, whether they are Chamorro, Filipino, Chinese, Korean…. I want MMV to be for everyone.”