Filipino pop-rock singer Yeng Constantino kicks off the Beats on the Beach music festival at Abu Dhabi’s Corniche on November 24.
“Music brings us together because music comes from the heart,” The National quoted Constantino, 27, as saying.
“Music evokes memories, whether good or painful,” she reportedly said, reflecting the themes of many of her songs, including her biggest hits Hawak Kamay (I’m By Your Side), Ikaw (You), and Better Than Yesterday, a collaboration with Singaporean rapper Sheikh Haikel.
Constantino reportedly catapulted into fame back in 2006 after winning the first season of Pinoy Dream Academy, a reality singing competition where aspiring musicians live together for four months while undergoing musical training from the industry’s veterans.
She has since released six chart-topping albums, three of which have gone on platinum status. With a sound influenced by the work of music superstars Alanis Morissette, LeAnn Rimes, Avril Lavigne, and even American progressive rock band Coheed and Cambria, Constantino writes songs based on her own life experience, said the news portal.
“My music is inspired by mostly people whom I love and situations that I imagine myself into,” she was quoted as saying.
Her 2014 hit Ikaw, for example, was composed during her engagement with now-husband Yan Asuncion.
Constantino has also played numerous shows across the world, performing for Filipinos living and working abroad.
“I feel honored to perform for my countrymen who I consider as modern-day heroes,” she was quoted as saying by The National. “Not only are they providing a better life for their family, they are also helping the Philippine economy in the process. So the pleasure is really mine to be given the chance to perform for them.”
Constantino says she’s eager to meet the thousands of Filipinos living in the UAE who will be attending her show, but also new fans and listeners of different nationalities who may be encountering her music for the first time.
She has performed in the Emirates several times in the past, most recently in March of this year, but reportedly says she “will always come back, so long as they want me to perform.”
