By Erwin Oliva
INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Since he first started blogging in 2003, Filipino singer and composer Jim Paredes can still recall the thrill of putting his thoughts in cyberspace and getting quick responses from people.
“It’s as if the Internet was my nervous system and cyberspace was my barangay,” Paredes said as he described his feeling when he first started blogging.
Paredes, who migrated with his family to Australia in 2006, has been known for his music and compositions, his career on Philippine television, and his being a member of the APO Hiking Society, a singing group composed of Danny Javier, Boboy Garrovillo and himself.
“I’ve been blogging since 2003. I felt the need to express myself outside of my usual venues like music, recordings, TV, etc. I also discovered I like talking to a world audience and receiving quick reactions and feedback,” Paredes said.
Paredes writes, or as he puts it, “talks” about art, humor, feelings, music, travel, family, migration and issues that delve somewhat on the inner life and spirituality in his blog.
What does Paredes think about blogging?
“Blogging has given me an added audience that I could not previously access. In a way, they have gotten to know me more intimately than what they could read and watch in traditional media. Even APO’s traditional audience has reconnected with us through the net. The Internet is an intimate medium and people like that,” he said.
Paredes admitted that many of their recent gigs came about because “producers can now access us directly.”
“Our audience can send us email regarding their song requests, and we get instant reactions right after the gigs. Then there’s Youtube as well and their own blogs where they write reviews. It’s a small cyberworld,” he said.
Paredes said his children also keep their own blogs.
“It is a way for me to know where they are when I am physically away from them. In a strange way, our life in Sydney has become some sort of reality show in cyberspace since people follow up on how we are doing,” he said.
Paredes is all over cyberspace.
“I have Multiply, Wordpress, Facebook and Blogger accounts. I will be blogging for a long time. It’s a habit I have developed and I love to do it,” he said.
Asked about blogging’s role for Filipino celebrities now living abroad, Paredes replied, “It is a lifeline to your audience. In a way, the distance between a celebrity and his audience is diminished somewhat since now, they can access a celebrity’s family photos, read his or her thoughts and opinions, even about things that are personal and very recent which traditional media cannot always provide. Cyberspace has made the world borderless. Chat, podcasts can keep everyone in touch.”
