Soundsgood Yacht Party

SPEAKING of boats, here’s a different kind of sailing adventure I wrote about in 2007 for the Manila Bulletin. A yacht party like no other.

BAY WATCH
By EDWIN P. SALLAN

MANILA Bay does not exactly smell like roses nowadays. Hell, it hasn’t been a sought after place by the city’s elite for a long, long time. But for one lazy Sunday afternoon, it became the ideal venue for one of the most memorable parties in recent memory.

To kick off its X Community Party Series, Soundsgood Music Marketing recently organized a yacht party aboard the luxurious King of Sports III yacht to cruise around yes, Manila Bay. And for six hours between 5 to 10, about 75 guests partied the night away in an atmosphere akin to that popular gin drink’s Bilog Ang Mundo commercial.

With an interesting mix of locals and expats from the diplomatic circle and multinational companies as well as foreign exchange students, professionals and of course, myself, we comprised what Soundsgood ringleader Edge Pamute calls the “X Community.”

“The X Community is trendy, Class A-B, mobile, and very global,” says Edge. “They expect a different kind of party environment, as they are aware of the different party trends in other continents. With this series of parties, Soundsgood is giving them more than the usual event.”

And more than the usual event was exactly what we got as we partied to the eclectic mix of music provided by DJ’s Brian Cua (house, electro and techno), Austrian Stefan Lowenstein (60’s latin soul, salsa and old and new funk) and Edge himself (nu jazz, bossa nova, broken beats) covering each side of the yacht. As if that wasn’t enough, the already propulsive beats were further enhanced by live music from Raffy Francisco on saxophone, James Bald and Marcus Maguigad on percussions.

Being aboard a yacht with more than 70 total strangers including a few hulking bouncers who are more than ready to throw troublemakers overboard is quite an experience. In between all that dancing, I had a chance to interact and get to know the other guests well. There was a couple of folks who are having careers in a not too common field called international development. There was a diplomat from the Turkish embassy as well as a girl working for the embassy of Argentina who kept telling me there’s more to Argentina than that namesake corned beef that it’s strangely famous for in this country.

There was a lovely telecoms executive who was dancing the night away with her French fiancé whom she hopes to settle down with in romantic Paris soon, a young bank executive who was lamenting about our, well, lamentable political system, a real estate executive from Tagaytay Highlands who like the rest, enjoyed watching the fireworks display at the SM Mall of Asia area and a couple of young lookers from Israel who are just savoring the panoramic view of the city and its famous sunset.

With San Mig Dry and Absolut drinks plus plenty of tasty cocktails to go around with, there was also plenty of time to marvel at the King of Sports yacht that was built here in 1993 and since then has been the vessel of choice for most surfing, diving and other chartered adventures all over the country. It has an air-conditioned salon, guest rooms, shiny wooden floors, DVD, karaoke and Xbox entertainment and a terrific sun deck where many of us hung out at some point.

The Soundgood yacht party was indeed an auspicious way of pushing the envelope for a new kind of alternative entertainment. It certainly had a lot of X factor going for it. “ We created the X Community Party series for the discriminating partygoer,” Edge muses. “This is for those who want an alternative to the usual and identical events and parties churned out by every event organizer in the country, the place where people can hang out, be with friends, enjoy refreshing drinks, dance to the edgiest tunes, but all in an environment that is unusual, edgy, and innovative.”

Sounds good, doesn't it?