Image from Instagram/@direkbobot
For younger audiences who know Bobot Mortiz from television, “Goin’ Standard” offers a glimpse of the singer and teen idol who came before the director’s chair.
For many younger Filipino viewers, Edgar “Bobot” Mortiz is simply “Direk Bobot”, the familiar name behind television comedy, family programming and generations of young performers.
But before the director’s chair, before the production rooms and before his name became attached to ensemble television, Mortiz had another public life. In the 1970s, he was a singer, actor and teen idol, part of a Philippine entertainment era when young stars were expected to do almost everything: record songs, act in films, appear on variety shows and carry a public image across several platforms at once.
That earlier chapter is returning to view through “Goin’ Standard,” his music project built around classic standards and songs associated with Frank Sinatra and the American songbook tradition. The project, which includes an album and a June 13 concert at The Proscenium Theater in Makati, is less about spectacle than memory. It brings Mortiz back to the sound that first placed him before an audience.
For those who grew up watching programs such as “Goin’ Bulilit,” Mortiz may be remembered less as a performer than as the man shaping timing, tone and comic rhythm from behind the scenes. His career became closely associated with television direction and production, particularly in comedy and youth-oriented entertainment.
“Goin’ Standard” gently shifts that frame. It reminds audiences that Mortiz did not begin as a director who later decided to sing. He was a performer first, a young entertainer whose early career unfolded in front of cameras and microphones before he spent decades helping others find their place there.
The project has been described in entertainment circles as a return to his “first love.” The phrase fits, but not because it turns the story sentimental. It works because it is chronological. Music was one of Mortiz’s starting points.
For older fans, the songs may feel like a return to the Bobot Mortiz they first knew. For younger audiences, they offer a more complete portrait of “Direk Bobot” – not only the director behind the credits, but the singer who came first.
