A disappearing love interest, a decades-old soft-rock hit and a phone-recorded demo might seem like unlikely ingredients for a Filipino funk-rock track.
For Naga City band IDLEPITCH, however, that combination helped create “Salamangkera,” a playful new single that finds the group venturing deeper into funk, Manila Sound and retro-pop territory.
Released on Aug. 21, “Salamangkera” takes its central idea from the image of an enchantress who enters someone’s life, casts her spell and then suddenly disappears.
The unlikely spark came partly from America’s 1982 hit “You Can Do Magic,” according to guitarist and composer Herbert Belbes.
“Good artists copy, great artists steal,” Belbes said, before quickly qualifying the thought.
“Well, not directly, since it only has the same theme: a love interest, or a salamangkera, suddenly vanishing after she charmed you out of your mind.”
The comparison is more conceptual than musical.
Where America’s soft-rock classic approaches romance as something almost supernatural, IDLEPITCH turns the idea into something distinctly Filipino: the salamangkera becomes the woman who leaves someone bewitched — and then vanishes as quickly as a magic trick.
Musically, the song also marks an interesting turn for the Naga-based rock band.
“Salamangkera” began with something considerably less polished: a demo recorded on a phone, initially built around a guitar riff.
Then came the keyboards.
The addition of keyboardist Jeremy Pronto changed the character of the arrangement. A horn-like opening originally conceived for guitar was transferred to the keys, helping push the track away from straightforward rock and toward a brighter, funkier retro-pop sound.
Producer and co-writer Ahmad Tanji also joined the creative process, with the band reworking both the arrangement and lyrics.
The resulting track draws from a mix of influences IDLEPITCH knows well: Pinoy funk, Manila Sound, yacht rock and the music of Filipino acts such as KALA and P.O.T.
It is a combination that makes “Salamangkera” feel deliberately nostalgic without becoming a period piece.
There are traces of the warmth and melodic polish associated with late-’70s and ’80s pop, but the song remains anchored in the sensibility of a contemporary provincial Filipino band looking beyond conventional rock arrangements.
That evolution is particularly notable for IDLEPITCH, a band whose roots stretch back years in Naga City’s music scene.
The group released the album “One Way Trip” in 2019 and has continued putting out material in recent years, including “Febbie,” “Panalangin sa Panaginip,” “Piraso,” “Hari” and, most recently before “Salamangkera,” “Salimpusa.”
Their new material suggests a band increasingly willing to move beyond the boundaries of the alternative-rock sound associated with their earlier work.
And “Salamangkera” may be one of the clearest examples yet.
At its heart, however, all the genre references are secondary to a very simple idea: meeting someone capable of completely captivating you — only to have that person disappear.
The Filipino title gives that familiar romantic experience its hook.
A salamangkera performs tricks. This one performs a different kind of disappearing act.
For IDLEPITCH, the trick was turning that idea into a song catchy enough to linger after the magic is over.
“Salamangkera” is out Aug. 21 on digital music platforms.