Nowadays, being a songwriter and an accomplished guitar player with a degree in music is not as cinch as it may seem. “It started when I was just a little girl, my dad, Tonie Bufete of the TNJ fame (in the 70’s), would always play on our record player albums of The Beatles, Santana and Queen everyday of the week. I took up voice lessons early on and picked up the guitar, i discovered my love for songwriting as well”, narrates Barbara.
Growing up in Manila and Parañaque, Barbara wouldn’t be the only other musician in the Bufete household, his other siblings too. “My two brothers plays the guitar and the other plays the piano. Then my eldest sister plays piano and sings as well”, says Barbara.
Bijei, as she is fondly called by her friends and family, started to write songs when she was in the 5th grade. And after high school, she knew what to take up for the furtherance of her passion in music. She took up Conservatory of Music in St.Scholasticas College and majored in Voice. Eventually, she would work in the music industry and would be involved teaching music as well. “I had worked at Music Master as a Voice Teacher, owned by Jimmy Antiporda of the Neo Colours fame”, reminisced Barbara. Currently she is a Voice Teacher at ‘School Of Rock’, a U.S. franchise stationed here locally.
She have written & performed a commercial jingle for Bambini Cologne and have written and performed songs for two films, ‘My Valentine Girls' from Viva and ‘RPG Metanoia’ for Star Cinema. Her last work was for Kylie Padilla, which she wrote a song. Also, she was given the opportunity to write two songs for Julie Anne San Jose. “I wrote BAKIT NGAYON last 2014, and luckily, it was nominated for ‘Song of the Year’ at Awit Awards and Yahoo Awards, fortunately the song won at Yahoo Awards”, marvels Bijei.
People would often tag her as Michelle Branch of OPM due to the resemblance in looks and voice. This modest and youthful looking mother of two boys will be turning 35 years old this April. But she does not look her age. “I get that a lot, one grandma of my student thought i was only 19 years old”, quips Barbara who happens to be a practicing minimalist.
On Tonie Bufete as a dad, “He was my greatest musical influence. A very cool dad. My mom and him would encourage me to pursue my interest in music. And they would attend our band Persephone perform almost always”, says Bijei. In Persephone, she sings, write songs and plays guitar too. They have two digital albums on Spotify and iTunes under GMA records. So look out for Barbara Jeanne and her band Persephone and experience her music.
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