A key tenet of budots, the viral, gleefully frantic Filipino electronic dance music genre born in the working-class barangays of Davao City, is that it can and should be played everywhere, for everyone. Put on a budots remix of anyone from legendary Pinoy band Boyfriends or Tyla in the middle of the street, or at a pickup basketball game, or at a kids’ birthday party, and people of all ages will be dancing, whether seven or 70.
That ethos has been at the center of Vallejo-born videographer and DJ JP Breganza, and his incredible run of parties in unexpected places. The now Sacramento-based Breganza reached the masses last September for turning the checkout aisles at Seafood City into a party series called Late Night Market Madness, and has parlayed the virality of those events into other Filipino-centric functions around the Bay and in Sacramento.
“I’m watching Filipinos from the Philippines party on the street,” Breganza said. “Nothing's stopping them from just having a good time.”
So, when Breganza got invited by his friend and fellow DJ Justin Colonia to play on the San Francisco Bay Ferry, he immediately wanted in. Breganza is headlining a party on the Ferry called Bangka sa Bay (Boat on the Bay) this Friday. The plan is to have a good-ass time on a boat with Filipino people and friends of the culture, and maybe joyfully disrupt some people’s commutes along the way.
“[If] they want that peace and quiet, they're just gonna have to hop on a different boat,” Breganza joked.
Calonia, a marketing manager for Vallejo’s tourism bureau and the principal coordinator of the event, was tasked by Bay Ferry operations director Thomas Hall to throw a party for a boat going between Vallejo and San Francisco as part of a series of activations hosted by the agency. Since ridership on the ferry is generally down during the January chill, why not turn a Friday commute ride into a floating party?
The first boat from Vallejo will embark Friday at 4:45 p.m. and arrive at the Ferry Building at 6 p.m. A second round will start off at Vallejo at 7:05 p.m. 8:10 p.m. arrival time. The cost of entry is pretty cheap: a one-way ferry ride ($9.90), or $20 for an all-day pass if you want to party all night. As with the Seafood City parties, Bangka sa Bay is all-ages, so kids and lolas are welcome.
Bangka sa Bay is a celebration of Vallejo’s culture as much as it is Filipino culture, with local artist Chalberto providing visuals and a constellation.
And about the music, a panoply of DJs, all of whom have ties to both Vallejo and Filipino culture, are set to perform. Breganza, on his end, is planning a mix of classic Filipino party starters (think: the vintage Manila Sound music that young Pinoys grew up with and a healthy selection of ‘90s R&B). But his broader mission is to introduce everyone to new stuff.
“Although it's important to keep the dance floor moving, to keep them going, I feel like I have a bigger responsibility in educating everybody on the OPM” — original Pinoy music — “that's out there, that already exists,” he explained.
