Why Rico Blanco agreed to produce Jamir Garcia’s posthumous solo album

After decades in the music industry, Rico Blanco faced one of the most "special" projects of his career: Producing an unreleased solo album left behind by his good friend Slapshock vocalist Jamir Garcia, who passed away last November.

In a private listening session on Friday, Jamir's brothers Chris, Kenneth and Sonboy shared how they tapped the Rivermaya frontman to do it after finding the songs in his archives.

The siblings thought long and hard about who they should entrust with their brother's music, but they eventually agreed there was only one man for the job.

"Ang pinakanaalalala ko na reason namin kung bakit si Rico 'yung pinili namin is iti-treat ni Rico 'yung songs ni Jamir as his own songs. Like, he would care for the songs of Jamir as he would his own songs," Kenneth told reporters in the zoom call.

"So dahil doon pa lang, nag-decide na kami na si Rico na yung magha-handle ng mga songs ni Jamir."

[The reason I remember the most, why we chose Rico to produce the record is because we know Rico will treat Jamir's songs as his own. He would care for the songs of Jamir as he would his own songs. With that alone, we decided it will be Rico who will handle Jamir's songs.] 

Apart from being his close friend, Rico also got to work with Jamir when he produced Slapshock's 2002 album "Project 11-41."

The singer-songwriter, who now leads his own label Balcony Entertainment, struggled to find the words when asked what he felt when he got the call.

"There was a part of me that felt na parang, siguro, how do I put this? Like, all of us... the news of his passing was a surprise and... we weren't really able to…" Rico began.

"This is another chance for me," he finally said. "Parang gano'n. I have another chance to be with him, basically. And so the answer was, yes."

Rico agreed with Jamir's brothers that producing his solo album was going to be a "massive undertaking," but he definitely wanted to do it.

"I just had an initial pressure to myself because parang hindi ko sure kung alam ko kung nasan na siya, and this was before hearing the track. Parang hindi ko alam if I would be able to do justice, but still, I wanted to do it," he said.

"The brothers told me that it's his dream. Doon palang, I felt that it was going to be the most special project I could take on in my career."

Rico was given the freedom to make some adjustments based on his friend's original demo and notes, but Rico assured fans that the final product is still all Jamir.

"I really wanted to make the listener feel like andun siya singing from paraiso. Like, he’s there when you hear this song. Kasi narating na niya eh,” Rico said.

"So I wanted [to tell] that story, from the intro to the outro when it fades out," he added. 

Rico said he would even ask for Jamir's guidance before making any "creative" decisions.

"I just ask him, 'pare gamitin ko gitara mo ah?'" he shared.

"So may hawak akong gitara, (and say) 'lalagyan ko to ah.' 'Tas 'Hindi! Gamitin natin gitara mo, ah!' Nagpapaalam ako sa kanya. 'Gamitin ko, ah? Aayusin ko na lang'," he added.

"Knowing him, he wants everything kind of, like, clean and tight and kick-ass."

On Sunday, on what would have been Jamir's 43rd birthday, Balcony Entertainment will be releasing "Paraiso," which was unearthed from the late singer-songwriter's studio archives.

It will be the first single to be released from an entire solo album he was able to record before he passed away last November.

Rico gave some advice to everyone who would be listening: "If you have headphones, wear them." — LA, GMA News