Mary Jane's Niche

I first heard the haunting voice of Ferns Tosco when she sang “Island Called Boracay” during a food fest night in Kalibo, Aklan. That time I was with the company of the Iloilo City Hall Press Corp, we were on a Lakbay Aral with DOT, touring half of Panay Island. We were rediscovering the beautiful tourism spots of Antique, Aklan and Roxas.

Jay-Ar, Ferns & Nash

That fateful night in Kalibo, I was captivated by Ferns’ guitar playing and beautiful singing, even more so than the food actually. Ferns sang a mix of 80s and 90s hits but the song that stuck in my mind is her very own composition “Island Called Boracay”. Unfortunately she only sang one set that night. I learned later on that she had to go to Boracay because she  also had a gig scheduled there at Bom Bom Bar and Pat’s Creek Bar.

After that night I resolved to find out who that amazing singer was. I didn’t know her name yet only her song “Island Called Boracay”. When I got home after the tour I tried to google her song but I didn’t find a trace of it – which is actually good because that means that no one has pirated her songs yet ( and I hope no one will ever do so of course). I only got a break when I found a feature article by Choose Philippines about her,  her song and her band. In that article I learned that the owner of ‘the haunting voice’ is Ferns Tosco, a singer based in Boracay Island. I immediately looked her up on Facebook, then messaged and added her, within minutes she accepted my friend request. She was really nice and I told her then that I heard her sing when we went to Kalibo last June. The next day I messaged her again and asked her if she could grant me an interview. She said Yes! So that’s how I got to meet Ferns and her talented bandmates – Nash Tabay and Jay-Ar Pague.

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