‘Diskarte’: A song’s title captures a band’s journey

"Diskarte" has become an oft-used song title.

That's the name of the latest single of the 18-year-old Pinoy band Third Avenue. Daniel Padilla and The Juans likewise have exactly the same title for their respective tunes. And there are two other songs of the same title recorded by two hip-hop groups.

What's with "diskarte" that Filipino songwriters love?

If it's rooted from the Spanish verb "descartar," which means "to discard," the Pinoy slang "diskarte" has strayed far, since it connotes "to strategize," or to know one's best or most effective approach to a situation.

Titles of songs can't be copyrighted, especially if it's a common word or expression. Composers can own the lyrics of a song, but not its title.

Of the many songs titled "Diskarte," most have something to do with courtship and keeping the romance burning.

Daniel Padilla, as well as The Juans, are popular artists, but none of the showbiz scribes recently invited to the launch of Third Avenue's single seems to be aware they all have a similarly-titled song.

The band's "Diskarte" is written by drummer Beng Gatmaitan. He said: "I want this song to connect to the young. Make them feel it belongs to them because it talks about their deepest feelings when they fall in love. They are full of emotions and affection."

Third Avenue was formed by vocalist Paolo Ledesma in 2004 with his schoolmates at De La Salle University Manila. Ledesma can't recall why they ended up calling their band Third Avenue — a name that may not be copyrighted, too, because it's too common.

We found out, by backreading publicity about the band, that it had 14 members when it celebrated its 15th anniversary in 2019 with a concert at Music Museum.

Female vocalists Joy Reyes and Muriel de la Paz, as well as male vocalist Alchris Ramirez, were members at the time. And so were drummer-composer Gatmaitan, saxophonist Lester Cerda, and keyboardist/musical arranger Migz Nuñez.

Back then, Third Avenue was a sought-after guest performer at weddings — including those of Carmina Villaroel and Zoren Legaspi, Heart Evangelista and Chiz Escudero, Morissette and David Lamar.

Its songs have also been used as soundtrack: "Aking Hiling" in the Korean series Sunrise; and "O Kay Sarap" in the 18th season of Daisy Siete.

The band's biggest hit, "Why Can't It Be," was released in 2007.

Third Avenue has also performed as guest artist in the concerts of Jessica Sanchez, Morrissette, and Jake Zyrus.

"There's still that part of us that wants to go mainstream, to go beyond what we do," Ledesma said. "We have original songs, and we hope to come up with new ones and release them on digital platforms."

But do they think this the perfect time to release "Diskarte"?

"Hindi namin masasabing it's perfect, but all we know is it's about time we release our music. Kasi, we do a lot of weddings, events, and we have written songs for couples, 'yung couples na gusto nilang original songs 'yung kanilang bridal march. We have written songs for companies, too, so sabi namin, it's about time we do our own songs naman. 'Yung pandemic made it possible… we were able to concentrate on writing," Ledesma said.