BETA BIOGRAPH








     S. "Kidlat!" Ocampo and J. "Le Pontiac" Gonzales are maternal cousins separated at birth following civil unrest in their hometown of Quezon. Short was their time spent together at family feasts and town meetings, for soon fate would send their families racing off in rented Toyota Hi-Ace vans, one moving further East, the other moving out West; only to find each other again decades later, united in their mutual and familial quest for self development through education and creative cultivation.

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     S. Ocampo was subsequently raised and schooled by Jesuit Monks at the foothills of San Francisco Del Monte, in the sprawling province of Kaliraya. There, under the stewardship of Fr. F. Cleophas SJ, he began his apprenticeship as Assistant Machinist at the San Agustin Rice Mills, which were then owned and operated by the Jesuits. It was during this time that he adopted the nickname "Kidlat!", or "Lightning", after narrowly escaping a near fatal 3rd degree electrocution at the town steel foundry.

     Constant village uprisings against the ruling clergy, however, eventually forced the Jesuits, with the Ocampo family in tow, to flee the region and seek safer shores elsewhere. The Ocampos set their sights to the quiet, below-sea-level nation of Richmond, where Kidlat! settled down with his wife and family. Unbeknownst to him, it was there that he would not long after reunite with his long-lost cousin and together pursue further education under the reputable Internal Circuitry Studies (ICS) Program.

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     J. "Le Pontiac" Gonzales arrived overseas at the age of 7 with his 3 siblings and adoptive parents, Rocamora and Galang. After a 9 month stay at a safe house located high in the hills of West Covina, the Gonzales family found refuge in the seaside town of Port Manteau. Once known as a thriving fishing community, the turn of the decade brought unjust trade laws and heavy tariffs, which lead to an exodus of its small population.

     As the town attempted to rebuild itself, Gonzales’ father found work as a ship mechanic and amateur sculptor, while his mother worked at a local bakery and was an occasional dj. Three years after their arrival, his father and older brother were arrested on charges of information smuggling and treason. It was said that they had escaped captivity and vanished deep into the jungles of Caoutchouc. Local and neighboring villagers would later refer to the fugitive Gonzales as “Le Pontiac”.

     At the age of 16, Gonzales left Port Manteau without notice. Wandering from town to town, he encountered an ascetic who, at the foot the Calumpit Crossing, advised him to seek sanctuary in Richmond. There he worked as a letter carrier by day and engaged in his own research and studies by night. Yearning to further his development, he was soon admitted into the ICS Music Program where, unsuspectingly, his Ocampo cousin was also enrolled.

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     Planetary alignments toward the close of the century finally caused the two cousins to cross paths once more. They met one fateful evening at an ICS undergraduate gala party, much to their relief and disbelief. They eventually re-discovered and re-established their kinship thru parallel affinities and synchronized activities. They have since then cooperated and collaborated on a long-standing series of studies as Betawave X, a duo project formed in conjunction with their ICS Electroacoustic Practicum. Their collection of works have steadily grown to form an impressive catalogue that is only today being unearthed and given due investigation. The Ghetto Space Music Volumes series documents their initial findings and breakthroughs.

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