DAVE DUEŇAS WHO? (March 14, 2011)

DAVE DUENAS AND CHARICE DURING THE DAVID FOSTER CONCERT IN MANILA

Last March 7 was our comprehensive exam's first day.

After sitting, from 8am to 5pm, alone inside Faculty Center's Silid Saliksik, we felt like a call center agent thinking of answers to questions on, say, global assemblage.

After almost nine hours of blank stares and backaches, we went home to rest.

Only to rub sleep from our eyes and to review again for Ph.D.Philippine Studies.

But, there was a tempting whisper for us to undergo therapy: to check our emails!

From facebook, we readily got healed upon reading this message: “Hello Sir Vim! I'm Dave Dueňas. Naging estudyante n'yo po ako dati sa UP (Fil 20 in 2001 & MP10 in 2003). Nabasa ko po yung article n'yo sa Manila Bulletin kahapon. Natuwa po ako kasi na-mention n'yo yung YouTube alias ko. Ako po si FalseVoice. I was the one who posted Charice's performance videos on YouTube. Maraming salamat po ulit. Dave”

Yes, Dave Dueňas -- the “discoverer” of Charice Pempengco who just won as Best New Artist in J-Wave Tokyo Hot 100 Awards beating Justin Bieber, Bruno Mars, among others – is our former student who was acknowledged by David Foster in his concert in Manila in October last year: “Dave changed the face of the Philippines forever."  

Maybe that explains why he is FalseVoice. Or Falsetto.

Or perhaps that is his metaphor for his true choice, after resigning recently as a Lead Voice and Accent Trainer and as a certified Microsoft Office Specialist.

In reality, this Rowell Santiago look-alike is a registered nurse.

Yet, deep inside,he wants to be someone else, other than finishing his Phil. Stud.

Jeff Ryan called him a change agent: “As I was watching these amateur singers, I realized, what an “Innovator”, Dave Dueňas (a.k.a. FalseVoice) had become in the music business.   I’m not sure if anyone really notice, (or maybe you did), the underlining effects he had on impacting, not only Charice’s world, but also, on every other amateur singer on YouTube.  All major music industries can point toward Dave Dueňas, as a perfect example of what can happen, if they have the right person who can utilize the right tools, in marketing, promoting, and of course, a Charice Pempengco to work with, wouldn’t hurt.”

Dave updated the said writer for a business music magazine in Los Angeles, California, by the way, because his FalseVoice site has over 15 million hits as of now!

And in him, we found a huge fan of Dave: “ I believe it was Dave’s pure genius ways he went at it, by promoting Charice on YouTube, the “right way”.  By challenging Charice’s critics, comparing various famous singers, “spot” commenting on other sites, picking the right songs, doing incredible, yet simple videos, with the right touch of style and drama into his videos.  And let’s not forget, in the music business, a little bit of luck.”

As a student, Dave has a general weighted average of 1.93.

However, he seems to be in the wrong job: “From a music business standpoint, Dave is this generation’s new wave of raw talent managing.  Other than Chasters, no one outside, really thinks or recognizes his profound impact he stirred up in the music industry, and arguably, the first to do so on YouTube.”

Q: What did you get out of it?

Q:Did Charice and her family show their love to you?

Q:Any other artist indebted to you?

Q:What can you say about our talents?

Q:How did you learn about Charice?

A:It can be fun, but it can also be a lot of work sometimes.

Q:Do you imagine yourself YouTubing till Kingdom come?

Well, for us to get tips direct the horse's mouth, here's Dave!

Q:What made you decide to upload Charice's video on YouTube? Why did you do it?

A:It was actually pretty random. I was new to YouTube then, and initially, all I wanted was to have a lot of video views. I noticed that for you to be able to get a lot of hits, your video should make the people go “wow!” after watching it. Charice’s name popped into my head because that was the same feeling I felt when I first saw her on TV. So I posted her I Will Always Love Youperformance from Little Big Star. It was a slow start and I had to invest a lot of time and energy into getting the word out and building awareness. But, eventually, that particular video became a hit and attracted music industry attention. Charice searched for me online and personally thanked me. I told her that I was going to help her so she would be continuously noticed by the world. I posted more and more videos of her until eventually I was e-mailing with the producers of Ellen, and then Oprah! It's unbelievable!

A:I got to help a girl fulfill her dreams. Although, I never in my wildest dreams expected to have such a profound impact on Charice’s career, I’m very happy that she is now getting the recognition she truly deserves. Of course, it’s very rewarding that people credit me for being the one who opened the doors for her. Being recognized for what I’ve done is great.

A:Yes, Charice always mentions my name in her interviews. I feel humbled. She never forgets where she started way back in 2007 or earlier.

A:There are actually a few budding singers/musicians who I helped to get represented by the very prominent entertainment lawyer, Ed Shapiro who isan American entertainment lawyer for many big stars such as Mariah Carey, Usher, Jennifer Lopez etc. Not surprisingly, I discovered these new artists on YouTube, or you could say that they discovered me. It’s funny but I’m always getting messages asking me to check out their videos and help them get recognized.

Q:Do you still do uploading Pinoy talents' video? What will make your "retire"?

A:I rarely upload videos nowadays. I was happy to take a back seat and let other people upload. In addition, I’m planning to build a website that will have all of the performance videos of Charice. I hope it materializes in the near future.

A: One reasons why I promoted Charice online is because I wanted people all over the world to know that behind some of the bad things said about our country, we do have great talent here that is second to none. Charice is not only an example of the world-class talent we have here but she is also a superb, first-class representative for our great country. She is an excellent ambassador for all of the Pinoys.

A:I saw her on Little Big Star. The first time I heard her sing, my jaw literally dropped. I had goosebumps.I couldn’t believe that such a big voice was coming out from such a small body.

Q:Are you a couch potato?

A:Yes, I am, when I’m in between jobs. I can sit in front of the computer for 10 hours straight. Talk about being productive, eh? Haha

Q:Are you a geek or a nerd?

A: Nerd sounds very negative to me so I’d like to think that I’m more of a geek.

Q:What can you say about YouTubing?

Q:What features do you love to be added / changed to YouTube?

A:YouTube has added a lot of great and exciting features compared to what it was before. Currently, YouTube users can only upload videos up to 15 minutes. This means that longer videos would have to be edited and cut then uploaded into parts which could really be taxing. So I would love to see them increase the allowable video length even longer.

My channel FalseVoice which I first created in 2006 was shut down twice due to copyright issues. I hope that YouTube would be lenient when it comes to this kind of issues.

Q:What is the future of YouTubing?

A:Charice…Justin Bieber…Perhaps the next superstar. And then the next?

A:You bet!

TEXT SUPPORT:

France has the world's greatest number of Nobel Prize winners in literature (12).

CONSIDER THIS:

Being alone sometimes gives you space to grow.

Sometimes it is hard to grow when you are to close to someone.

Remember that trees are planted far from each other.

So they can spread their branches and mature.