Invincible Youth
Scout|May - June 2017

Manila Magic would very much like it if you didn’t underestimate their talent because of their youth.

Chryssa Celestino
Invincible Youth

WHEN YOU were trying to understand Daria’s comebacks or flipping through Marvel comic books in your room where your Nirvana poster hung, Zild Benitez was in a storytelling competition, explaining to his fellow grade-schoolers how a mythical bird once pooped on a prince and turned him to stone. He would narrate, in rehearsed singsong, the epic of Ibong Adarna for a competition. He’d place runner-up but preferred spending afternoons in the arcade playing “Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune,” where he and his friends obsessed over driving virtual vehicles and overtaking each other.

Somewhere in the South, Tim Marquez was training to be a top jock. At eight, he played with the Army Football Club, gearing up for a lifetime career. But on days he wasn’t scoring goals, he’d hang out with his two older brothers, probably swimming or taking dance lessons. When those got old, he’d retire to his room to play “Age of Empires”: or kill Orcs in “Lord of the Rings.” He gained weight—his downfall as an athlete, he thought—and had to rethink his next move.

Years later, on Oct. 2, 2016, the song In the Night dropped on YouTube. Obscured in silhouettes, two guys slowly swaying to synths sing—in warped voices—about falling in love at 18 as they mime the desperation that goes with it. All ears are on this ’80s-inspired, nostalgic showcase as the artists, in a rare occasion, coolly sidestep. The song is an elaborate introduction of to Tim and Zild of Manila Magic−once the teenaged dorks, now the indie scene’s newest electronic duo that haven’t even hit their 20s.

This story is from the May - June 2017 edition of Scout.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

This story is from the May - June 2017 edition of Scout.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

MORE STORIES FROM SCOUTView All
Girl of the year
Scout

Girl of the year

After years on hiatus, 17-year-old Ylona Garciaa has found her way back to her first love: music

time-read
6 mins  |
January - March 2020
Walking on a Tightrope
Scout

Walking on a Tightrope

The Binisaya Film Festival grew from pop-up screenings in beaches, rooftops, basements and basketball courts. How did founder Keith Deligero go against the tide?

time-read
7 mins  |
January - March 2020
Scout

URBAN DISRUPTION

As street art falls into the trap of commercialism, collectives like koloWn of Cebu reclaim urban spaces through works that dare to disrupt

time-read
5 mins  |
January - March 2020
Take no prisoners
Scout

Take no prisoners

At 13 years old, Alex Bruce has already built a name for herself in the local hip-hop scene

time-read
5 mins  |
January - March 2020
Scout

Paperback dreams

As print was beginning its decline, we were passionate, young creatives who wanted to resuscitate publishing—even if it meant making our own magazines

time-read
6 mins  |
January - March 2020
Scout

Putting the spotlight on the South

Run by DJs, MCs and dancers, Laguna Hip-hop is ready to break borders with their growing community

time-read
3 mins  |
January - March 2020
Bekiand the great Gay language
Scout

Bekiand the great Gay language

Our local gay lingo is radical in nature

time-read
5 mins  |
January - March 2020
Baybayin: a renewal through art
Scout

Baybayin: a renewal through art

Filipino-American Baybayin artist Kristian Kabuay talks about Baybayin as a didactic art form that bridges past and present

time-read
6 mins  |
January - March 2020
Wild card
Scout

Wild card

Marco Gallo never dreamt of becoming an actor, so why is he working hard to be the best one out there?

time-read
7 mins  |
October - December 2019
Postcards after the drug war
Scout

Postcards after the drug war

It went from promises to end illegal drugs in three to six months, to countless protests from human rights activists, and a vice president appointed and (eventually fired) to head the government’s campaign on illegal drugs.

time-read
2 mins  |
October - December 2019