Filipinos again show their skills at Anaheim music merchants show 

Apprentice bass guitar maker Kenzo Garcia shows off his  all handmade bass from the Philippines at the Elegee and Majeste Booth at the NAMM Show. This was owner Jon G. Dela Cruz’s second exposure of his Elegee Bass Guitars to NAMM attendees since 2017. INQUIRER/Florante Ibanez

ANAHEIM, California – With Filipinos again in the mix, the gigantic annual National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Show returned to the Anaheim Convention Center January 24-28, featuring an outdoor stage of continuous live musical entertainment sponsored by Yamaha, in addition to the showcase of musicians at various vendor booths and indoor stages.

Returning from his first appearance last year was Jon G. De la Cruz with his Elegee handmade bass guitars from Manila. While keeping his company small with three apprentice luthiers, he has kept his production standards high, creating beautiful instruments from exotic Philippine woods and hardware, proudly made entirely in the Philippines.

This year De la Cruz shared a booth with another new Philippine manufacturer Majeste Guitars, represented by Willy Abued. At their vendor booth, the crowd was entertained by ten-year-old guitar wiz Sebastien Braganza as his proud father watched.

Not far away, also in Hall E of the convention center, other young YouTube sensations Honoka and Azita from Hawaii also demonstrated their skills at the Kanile’a Ukulele booth.

Ten-year-old Sebastien Braganza impresses listeners as he  demonstrates Majeste Guitars. Elegee Bass and Majeste Guitars both  shared their new products from the Philippines. INQUIRER/Florante Ibanez

On Saturday, in Hall C at the Framus & Warwick Music booth, rock bass guitarist Mike Inez joined fellow guitar legends sponsored by Warwick for autograph signing in front of a long line of fans. Mike Inez is a Filipino American, proud of his heritage, raised in San Fernando, California and formerly performed and recorded with Ozzy Osbourne and the rock duo Heart. He currently plays bass for the rock group Alice in Chains. Later the same day Inez went on to sign autographs at the Ampeg amplifier booth for still more fans.

Filipino turntablists demonstrated their DJ-ing skills Saturday night, at the nearby restaurant Dave and Busters in Orange, California. After the NAMM event “The Art of DJing,” a djmix & greet party was hosted by SCETCH, Mixmats and Filipino American DJ Icy Ice.

DJ Icy Ice hails originally from Carson, California, with a degree from Cal State Dominguez Hills. He found hip hop culture to be his passion and focused on the art of turntabling and DJing. Also very involved in representing the Filipino community, Icy Ice is an original member of the internationally renowned DJ group The World Famous Beat Junkies.

DJ Icy Ice (center) with DJ Battlecat and DJ IFTW between spinning for the DJ Meet & Greet Party after the NAMM Show Saturday night at the nearby Dave & Busters in Orange, California. DJ Icy  Ice co-hosted the event and is also a community advocate, representing his Fil-Am heritage well in the hip hop world. CONTRIBUTED

Icy Ice has also been the Exclusive DJ for celebrity events such as Manny Pacquiao, Black Eyed Peas, Kanye West, the Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, the Emmys, the Sundance Film Festival, NBA All-Star Games and the Democratic National Convention After Party. He is also on the Los Angeles radio station KPWR 106 and featured as a speaker recently at TEDx.

Also featured at the Saturday night DJ-ing Party were Pinoys, DJ Inbituin, Red Bull 3Style Champion of the Philippines, and DJ Rocky Rock, DMC Asia Champion.

The NAMM show also serves as a reunion ground for friends George Rossi of Windfield Summit, Pat and Ramon DeVera of Barkada, music event producer Gerald Ishibashi and Dan and Jun Kuramoto of Hiroshima. Also found at the breakfast line was Filipina journalist Liza, representing the online Rock Cellar Magazine. At last count there were more than 2,000 exhibitors and 115,085 registrants at this year’s 2018 NAMM Show.