The Philippine Times recognises the struggles of local artists in Australia and around the world in 2020. The pandemic has impacted many Filipino-Australian artists and musicians in an industry which relies heavily on live music to succeed.
The Philippine Times is featuring young Melbourne-based Filipino-Australians ‘the AEses’ about their latest work and activities from home.
The AEses are a Filipino-Australian duo comprised of brothers Aezeth Jadd and Aethan Jhae Aguilar. Aethan is an ANZCA Certified Grade 3 drummer and a self-taught guitarist. Aezeth is also a graded instrumentalist, a pianist, also a self-taught guitarist, and currently doing voice lessons online, a student of E-Talent Musikademy. The duo started performing three years ago at social and family gatherings. From there they started getting invitations to perform at various musical events and concerts, opening to a few Melbourne local bands.
They performed at their annual Multicultural Community Harmony Festival in 2019. A couple of memorable performances were at the Kuatro Kantos Konsert, and at a local tavern in Point Cook, The Black Swan.
The duo won “Best Group Performance” at a Fast Track Talent competition last year.
Their father Aaron discusses how his kids have continued to follow their passion and develop their skills, while also helping others in a special way during the pandemic.
How has COVID-19 affected the AEses?
the AEses started the year 2020 with a successful performance at the 2020 Sinulog Festival – Deer Park. They also started busking at the Eynesbury Sunday Market’s Australia Day 2020 event. They were booked to busk every last Sunday of the month at the Eynesbury Market however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all events at the market were cancelled. A few other gigs were also cancelled, a performance at a show in Sydney.
What are some of the things that the AEses have been doing during the pandemic?
COVID-19 did not stop the AEses’ love and passion for music. They continued to entertain netizens during isolations and lockdowns. From performing cover songs live on Facebook to uploading videos on YouTube and other social media platforms like Instagram to taking cover songs requests from family and friends.
These difficult times also taught the AEses how to show compassion and gave opportunity to do acts of kindness towards other people mostly affected by the pandemic.
The AEses offered financial assistance taken from their earnings from busking and talent fees saved.
They have managed to help a total of 8 families in the Philippines!
The AEses continue to learn more songs during lockdown to build up their library of songs.
Watch The AEses perform a Daniel Padilla cover titled ‘Kasama Kang Tumanda’:
What are your hopes for the AEses in the future?
The AEses hope to be given more opportunities to perform at events, especially within the Filipino community, in the coming year 2021. We are looking forward to more gigs and would still love to do busking at the Eynesbury Market soon. As the the AEses develop and mature into professional musicians, expect that they will someday deliver original song compositions.
Follow the Aeses:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/theAEses
YouTube: @theAEses
