Push Admin

'I'm still a human being': Self-confessed 'loner' Rico Blanco opens up about yearning for family amid lockdown

Article (news)

ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/06/11/rico-blanco-1.jpg"/><figcaption>Musician Rico Blanco.<em> Instagram: @ricoblanco100</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA — A self-confessed &quot;loner,&quot; rock icon Rico Blanco believed he would be able to cope with little social interaction during the lockdown, but its months-long duration, he said, has reminded him that he&#x27;s &quot;still a human being.&quot;</p><p>Blanco opened up about his situation of being alone at his condominium unit, with only his pet dogs, throughout the three-month lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>The musician was among the guests during a &quot;Fireside&quot; live chat Thursday delving into the new normal of various industries, including showbiz, travel, and food.</p><p>The virtual roundtable — which also included Dingdong Dantes, Matteo Guidicelli, Nico Bolzico, and Drew Arellano — was organized by the law firm Gorriceta Africa Caution &amp; Saavedra.</p><p>&quot;I consider myself a bit of a loner,&quot; Blanco said, when asked to share about his personal adjustments during the quarantine. &quot;It may be hard to believe because I&#x27;m very comfortable also in front of large crowds. That&#x27;s the kind of strange thing about my personality. I&#x27;m also very comfortable being a loner.&quot;</p><p>&quot;Growing up, I tend to just have my own experiments in my room. I travel alone a lot. I thought I&#x27;d be okay with the sort of lockdown situation where I&#x27;m completely alone here in our city headquarters. Pero, after what feels like a hundred days already... I&#x27;m not such a loner, I&#x27;m still a human being.&quot;</p><p>A photo of Blanco&#x27;s niece, Yana, was shown during the live session. It was the rare snap of a family member he had posted on Instagram. Blanco has three nieces total — all of whom he hadn&#x27;t seen personally for the duration of the quarantine.</p><p>&quot;I miss my nieces,&quot; he said. &quot;They&#x27;ve celebrated birthdays. Ang bilis ng oras. I missed a lot. I&#x27;m missing out.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UnJhKi-jlC0?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div><p>Blanco has nonetheless managed to turn his forced &quot;loner&quot; period into a time for creativity. He even released a new track, &quot;This Too Shall Pass,&quot; with an accompanying music video shot inside his unit, in May.</p><p>That&#x27;s the &quot;good&quot; side of the lockdown for artists like him, Blanco said, noting they also have captive audiences at home.</p><p>&quot;When everyone&#x27;s home and cannot travel, we cannot go places, music takes you to places. It&#x27;s been a great time for artists to create new stuff, although there&#x27;s the production challenge. But people, I notice, are more forgiving during the pandemic in terms of the quality they&#x27;re expecting. They know everyone&#x27;s locked down,&quot; he said.</p><p>Old catalogs, too, have seen a surge of listeners, according to Blanco.</p><p>&quot;Current music is generally for the young, but since everyone&#x27;s locked down, even the &#x27;tito&#x27; catalogs have new life,&quot; he said.</p><p>On the flip side, the music industry is crippled without what&#x27;s long been a fundamental aspect of it: live performances with live audience.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2020/news/06/11/rico-blanco-2.jpg"/><figcaption>Rico Blanco performs in February, in one of his last live gigs before the coronavirus lockdown. <em>Instagram: @ricoblanco100</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>&quot;Sadly, we&#x27;re first to go,&quot; Blanco said of the live circuit.</p><p>&quot;To be a musician in the Philippines is tough, it&#x27;s not like in bigger markets where you can make a living just releasing recorded material. Dito, even the biggest recording artists have to rely on their shows,&quot; he pointed out.</p><p>Many musicians also draw some success from crossing over to TV and movies, Blanco said, but even those industries have taken a hit. The much bigger fraction of musicians who have yet to do that rely on gigs, which, prior to the lockdown, could also be irregular.</p><p>&quot;Most musicians really rely on the live circuit, even the big artists, to sustain their needs. &#x27;Yung iba na may day job pa, parehas wala: wala nang day job, wala pang gigs,&quot; he said.</p><p>&quot;It&#x27;s been tough for everyone in the music industry income-wise. We don&#x27;t know what the future will be.&quot;</p><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gCU8BGG0lTY?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>