鈥檚 debut EP aims to find ways 鈥渢o reign our lives and not care about what other people say about us,鈥� according to the 性视界传媒-based musician.

The singer鈥檚 high, hopeful voice fills the four electronic-pop songs of the new 鈥淩eign鈥� EP, and other platforms.

The music explores 鈥渢he importance of self-advocacy and happiness,鈥� he says. 鈥淓ach song explores a part of my lived experiences and concludes with an action in the hopes of finding the meaning of life and true joy.鈥�

Born and raised in the Philippines, Argel Monte de Ramos considers himself a singer/songwriter, actor and playwright-producer.

At age three he learned to sing in a church choir, and today those Gospel and Motown sounds still influence his pop music.

Growing up, he dreamed of becoming an actor and musician, and moving to Canada at age 15 made that possible, he says.

Under the artist name Argel MDR, he recently won an excellence award by a BIMPOC artist (Black, Indigenous, Mixed-race, People of Colour) given by a Fraser Valley Music Awards panel created by CIVL Radio.

鈥� RELATED: 性视界传媒 singer soars into Searchlight song contest鈥檚 top 10 with 鈥業t Doesn鈥檛 Matter鈥�

Last year, the uplifting electro-pop song 鈥溾�淚t Doesn鈥檛 Matter鈥� sent the Fleetwood-area resident soaring into the top-10 of CBC Music鈥檚 Searchlight contest, not long after he started recording his music as a pandemic-era project.

鈥淚鈥檝e actually been writing songs and just been keeping them in a book, trying to get the courage to get them produced,鈥� Monte de Ramos said last June.

Music is a form of art that he uses to cultivate his creativity and journal his life as an immigrant, a bio notes. 鈥淚n addition, music has been his way of connecting with young immigrants and the BIMPOC community to tell his story and inspire them to be proud of their backgrounds.鈥�

tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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