THE STORY



Monika Preysler - Vocals
Darwin Venus - Guitars
Elias Otamias - Drums
Ryan Erquiza - Bass
Liberty Borjal - Keys


ANHURA started out as Dead Flowers Bloom sometime in late December of 2003, which was founded by the drummer of Five Wounds to Enter, Mario Zialcita. Its original members consisted of Monika as their vocalist, Darwin (Praena) on guitars, Aldelm (Funeral Frost) on keyboards, Shaun (Funeral Frost) on bass and Mario (Five Wounds to Enter) on drums. Most of its band members, consisted of various musicians from different bands in the local underground scene here in Manila. This makes the band very diverse and dynamic in terms of musicality. The combination of the band member's influence in music helped give DFB its unique sound. Their debut performance was held sometime in January 2004 during the album launch of The Late Isabel.

Like any band in its early stages, it had shed and gained new members. Early last year, the band Funeral Frost had been resurrected from a long rest and thus, Shaun and Aldelm had to leave the band and concentrate in making music with Funeral Frost. ANHURA (Dead Flowers Bloom) still continued to make music and do gigs but with session musicians to fill in the gaps. Sometime in late February tragedy struck the band when Darwin, their lead guitarist, met an accident and had to undergo an operation. This left Dead Flowers Bloom somewhat paralyzed for about a month. Because of this tragedy, DFB was forced to find a temporary replacement for Darwin while he was still in his recovery stages. In the process, this gave birth to DFB�s newest member. Irvin Flores, a former band mate and long time high school friend of Monika came to fill in Darwin�s place as the band�s temporary guitarist. The band was truly impressed with Irvin�s skills as a guitarist that by the time DFB was ready to play another gig, Darwin has already fully recovered from his operation, and the band decided to retain Irvin as their second guitarist. Later, another new member was added to the group, since the band did not have a permanent bassist, Allan Bautista came in to fill that gap. Allan is also a veteran in the underground music scene, and his talent contributed a lot to the improvement of DFB�s music.

DFB continued to play gigs and compose new songs. In July 2004 the sad news came to the band that Mario had to leave the group due to unavoidable circumstances. With that situation at hand, the group decided to change its name to �ANHURA�. The loss was difficult, but the group decided that the band had to move on. In its efforts to keep the band intact, Darwin referred his friend Dondon (Elias) to replace Mario as the group�s drummer so that the band can continue ahead. DonDon, as we call him, has his influences in music incline mainly lie in Reggae. And again, this became an intrepid mix with Anhura's musical influences which boosted the band's distinct rhythmic style. A few months later we found Libby Borjal, who added the ambiance of her keyboards to Anhura's music. Her main influence in playing the keys is Tori Amos. This talented lady really helped a lot to fill the gaps and holes of our music as a whole. And then as time flew by, we had to say goodbye to Allan because he had to go overseas and with this we welcomed Ryan Erquiza who became our new bassist. This finalizes the group's line-up from 2005 to date.

The brain and heart, two essential parts humanity cannot do without if we are to survive. ANHURA have taken this concept and extended it in their music, further exploring the marriage of thoughts and feelings. Inventing music not extremely based on theory but on feelings, experimentation/improvisation and experience. Through this vision, their music transcends boundaries and limitations, everything seems possible. Makes absolute sense since music is infinite and boundless.

ANHURA’s music is a journey, and to where the destination will be is to each his/her own. Their music takes you on a ride and while your eyes are closed, your limitation will only be your own imagination. It’s a fusion of the diverse emotions that we, ourselves, embodied our lives with. The bliss and madness, the love and suffering, the rise and fall, the beauty and chaos—equilibrium.

The name ANHURA based on the band's research comes from the Aramaic term that means "light" or "lunar light". They chose this name mainly because their songs reflect a certain aura, that of one’s search for the elusive light and its true meaning in life. The philosophy in general is that we are always in search for something in our life that would make us feel significant in this world. The vital something that would make us complete and fulfilled. ANHURA tends to express, address and manifest this through the music they create. The sound in general dwells but not limited to a mix of classical, folk, progressive built on a rock backbone. The vocal lines are powerful, ethereal and melodic with full of emotions complementing the message and the music itself.

Listen, be a fragment and take flight. 1