Antoine Diel

RELEASED OCTOBER 1ST, 2017
Antoine Reynaldo Diel was born into a musical family in Manila, Philippines and grew up singing in church and at community events. He had made the move to New Orleans in 2013 to get involved in the local music scene when Panorama clarinetist Ben Schenck heard him at the Spotted Cat with his band The Misfit Power. They struck up a friendship and Ben, enchanted with Antoine’s tone eventually brought up the idea of a collaboration. Antoine suggested they record “Dahil Sa Iyo” (“Because of You”) and Ben began studying the song, imagining a Panorama take on it and organizing a session.

“Dahil Sa Iyo” had its original premier in the 1938 Filipino movie “Bituing Marikit” (“Marvelous Stars”) and represents a traditional form of Filipino serenade called Kundiman. It crossed over to the US largely due to the English lyric by Tom Spinosa and has been recorded by Nat King Cole among others.

Antoine first sings it in the original Tagalog (the national language of the Philippines) then delivers an English version. He suggested we set it in the tempo of a Cuban bolero (with Doug Garrison overdubbing bongos) while Ben envisioned the sound of a National Steel guitar (played by Georgi Petrov) to evoke a bit of a South Pacific tone. This track also marks the only time since our first album in 2003 (Another Hot Night In February) where we’ve recorded using string bass (here played by Martin Masakowski ) instead of tuba.