Her album debut, "God Bless The Child", a combination of jazz standards and folk-rock originals, turned out to be the biggest seller from the fledgling British jazz label Candid Records.
With her BritishFilipina heritage, her striking good looks (an uncanny resemblance to Natalie Portman and Audrey Hepburn), her hip ethnic-Filipino-inspired fashion look, and a precaucious vocal style liked to greats like Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughn, and Ella Fitzgerald, Mishka introduced her young fans to the world of jazz.
And the mainstream record industry took notice.
Mishka romped off with the Awit Awards’ "Best New Vocalist" award and landed on local magazine covers.
Music video director Boom Dayupay (of Kulay fame) jumped at the chance to direct her videos.
She even went off to the UK to attend to the re-release of her Philippinerecorded album to the European market and did a few well-received club gigs.
Alas, we just got the world that we’re losing Mishka to the Brits. She’s off to the UK this coming January for music studies for a couple of years. She’ll also try to get a band together in London and do gigs around the country and in Europe.
That’s all very exciting for Mishka, but we here in Manila will be missing her intimate club performances with her band Blue Echoes.
Thankfully, she’s not leaving without a proper send off. And that send off will be be a farewell concert that’s being produced at the Music Museum on Dec. 17.
Titled "God Bless The Child" after the classic Billie Holiday song and her first album, the concert will feature Mishka and the Blue Echoes, composed of Louie Talan on bass, Koko Bermejo on drums, and Arnold Casinto on percussions, with Mike Guevarra on sax, Ria Osorio on keyboards, and Edgar Avenir on guitar.
Mishka will also performs with her underground guitar heroes Sammy Asuncion (of Spy and Pinikpikan), Noli Aurillo and Cynthia Alexander, duet with jazz singer Mon David, and performs her original compositions.
She also gets to showcase her prowess on saxophone (she is, after all, a saxophone major at the UP Conservatory of Music) in a special number with the sax ensemble Saxoforo and one of the best Philippine saxophonists ever, Tots Tolentino.
Even Mishka’s family gets in the act, in a special number with her mother, the famed sculptor Agnes Arellano, and her uncle Deo Arellano.
Also featured at the concert are jazz keyboard virtuoso Elhmir Saison, accompanying Mishka on a segment with Tots Tolentino. There’s a Brazilian segment featuring Nyco Maca and three capoeristas playing the traditional Brazilian instrument, the berimbau.
We do hope we’ll get to see her again on stage when she comes back. Till then, this last gig at the Music Museum will have to do. God bless you, Mishka.
