Armi Olbes Millare is a Filipino singer best known as the lead vocalist and keyboardist of Filipino alternative rock band Up Dharma Down. On December 26, 2021, Millare left the band due to the lack of transparency from her former label, Terno Recordings .[1][2][3][4][5][6]

Armi Millare
Born
Armi Olbes Millare
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active2004–present
AwardsNU Rock Awards Best Female Artist
Musical career
Genres
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
Labels

Life

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Since 2006, Millare's band released four albums and toured extensively around the world (including Asia, the Middle East, US and Canada). The BBC tagged them as the "Asian band to most likely to cross over North American shores"[7] while Time has called the band's music "genre-defying" as well as "both thoughtful and sensual."[8] Millare has herself pointed out the diversity of musical influences upon her work, which is spread across different genres. She has emphasised that to follow a few musical styles exclusively would be boring. She strives therefore to balance and combine numerous styles without any necessary single point of stylistic adherence.[9] Her band has garnered critical praise from artists such as Tim Bowness of No-Man, Curt Smith of Tears for Fears, and a collaborative track with Scotland's Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile.

Last year, she launched Startup Series where she plays her unreleased tracks, as well as the beloved hits she has created with UDD in new cities, and kicked it off in Berlin and in the UK.

Stoa Sound, the music-producing body of Stoa Studios was founded by Millare writing original music for film, animation and other media, preserving the same vision and attention to detail as the multi-disciplinary brand.

Millare has done work as Munro— an exploratory artistic platform featuring a multi-sensory and experimental one-off performance for art festivals and artist residencies. Here she gets to work with multi-media artists utilizing her knowledge in Asian Music as her chosen major in the University of the Philippines College of Music.

Her band UDD released their self-titled fourth album in July 2019.

On December 26, 2021, Millare announced that she would be parting ways with Terno Recordings and as a consequence of that, the band, UDD, as they remained with the label and eventually signed a 2-album deal with Viva Records who then purchased the UDD catalogue through Terno Recordings.

Discography

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With Up Dharma Down
  • Fragmented (2006, Terno Recordings)
  • Bipolar (2008, Terno Recordings)
  • Capacities (2012, Terno Recordings)
  • U D D (2019, Terno Recordings)
Solo
  • "Waiting for a Sign"
  • "Eyeliner"
  • "Delubyo"
  • "Pipikit Ako"
  • "An Attempt to Measure Happiness" (Instrumental)
  • "Yolanda"
  • "Kapit"
  • "Two Worlds"
  • "Into the Clear"
  • "Wrong"
Cover songs
Collaboration with D' Sound

Millare collaborated with Norwegian neo-soul band D'Sound for "Lykkelig" (Norwegian word for "happy") and "Somewhere in Between". On October 19, 2018, the music video of "Lykkeli"g was released. The third collaboration she did with D'Sound "Run for Cover" was released on November 19, 2021. The official music video was released the same day as the single release, and the video was shot in Manila and in Oslo during COVID-19.

  • "Lykkelig"
  • "Somewhere in Between"
  • "Run for Cover"

Art exhibit

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Millare has also explored in the field of visual arts and was frequently seen with artist Kawayan De Guia in 2011[10] in Baguio City. She has joined in a visual art exhibit entitled ' In Transit' at CCP. She participated in the group exhibit that ran on September 20, 2015 at the Small Gallery of the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Her work was featured together with musician artists like The Edralins, Kabunyan de Guia, Jazel Kristin, Kanna[11] Magosaki and Geloy Concepcion among others.

Awards and nominations

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Year Award Category Nominated work Result Ref.
2006 13th NU Rock Awards Best Female Artist Won [12][13]
Vocalist of the Year Nominated [14]
2009 16th NU Rock Awards Won [15]
Asia Voice Indie Music Awards (AVIMA) Best Overall Female Vocalist Won [16]
2010 Won [17]
2014 11th Golden Screen Awards Best Original Song "Indak" from the movie Sana Dati (2013) Nominated [18][19]
40th Metro Manila Film Festival Best Musical Score English Only, Please Nominated [18]
2015 41st Metro Manila Film Festival Best Original Theme Song "Tao" from the movie Honor Thy Father (Interpreter) Won [20]
2016 32nd PMPC Star Awards for Movies Movie Musical Scorer of the Year (Indie) Apocalypse Child (2015) Nominated [18][21]
Movie Original Theme Song of the Year (Indie) "Young Again" from the movie Apocalypse Child Nominated [18][21]

References

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  1. ^ Agting, Ira (December 3, 2013). "Profile: The emancipation of Armi Millare". Rappler.com. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  2. ^ "Welcome to the camp: songwriters descend on Dumaguete | omg! Philippines News Blog – Yahoo OMG! Philippines". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  3. ^ Smith, Chuck. "OPM artists honor typhoon victims as nat'l music camp commences". Philstar.com. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  4. ^ Smith, Chuck. "Ryan Cayabyab: Pinoy artists must compete head on with foreign music". Philstar.com. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  5. ^ "The Scenester: Building Capacities with Armi Millare of Up Dharma Down". Archived from the original on December 17, 2013. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
  6. ^ Endozo, Penelope P. (December 17, 2012). "Up Dharma Down tests its 'Capacities'". Inquirer.net. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
  7. ^ Evangelista, Patricia (December 10, 2012). "Up Dharma Down and the perks of being wallflowers". Rappler. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  8. ^ Day, Lara (July 19, 2007). "Music: The Way of Dharma". Time. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  9. ^ Day, Lara (July 19, 2007). "The Way of Dharma". Time.
  10. ^ "A Zombash to remember". Philippine Daily Inquirer. The Philippine Daily Inquirer. October 17, 2011. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  11. ^ "Visual Arts". Philippine Daily Inquirer. August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 24, 2016.
  12. ^ Dimaculangan, Jocelyn (December 5, 2006). "Kamikazee is grand winner in 13th NU Rock Awards". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  13. ^ Legaspi, Amita (December 2, 2006). "Kamikazee is Artist of the Year at 13th NU Rock Awards". GMA News. GMA News Online. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  14. ^ Gil, Baby A. (November 24, 2006). "NU 107 Rock Awards nominees". The Philippine Star. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  15. ^ Sisante, Jam (October 31, 2009). "Up Dharma Down, FrancisM tribute rule NU 107 Rock Awards". GMA News. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  16. ^ "AVIMA 2009: And the winners are..." Malaysiakini. March 30, 2009. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  17. ^ Maghirang, Tony M. (May 11, 2010). "Pinoy musicians win Asian awards". Philippine Daily Inquirer.
  18. ^ a b c d "Armi Millare – Awards". IMDb.com. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  19. ^ "FULL LIST: Winners, 11th Golden Screen Awards". Rappler. October 5, 2014. Retrieved November 28, 2018.
  20. ^ "WATCH: John Lloyd jams with Armi Millare". ABS-CBN News. December 29, 2015.
  21. ^ a b Garcia, Leony (February 24, 2016). "32nd Star Awards for Movies nominees unveiled". Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved November 28, 2018.