Parokya ni Edgar

Parokya ni Edgar (English translation: Edgar's Parish) is a Filipino band that was formed in 1993 by a group of college students. The band is famous and most lauded for its original rock novelty songs and often satirical covers of popular songs. The band has since transcended musical genres, varying styles from one song to another - alternative rock to pop rock, funk to rapcore, and so on - while providing comic relief to their listeners. Despite having "Edgar" in the band's name, none of the members go by it.

Naming themselves Comic Relief, the band originally consisted of three vocalists – Chito Miranda, Jeric Estaco, and Vinci Montaner, and two guitarists - Mikko Yap and Gab Chee Kee. They regularly played in after-school jam sessions, before performing an opening number for an Eraserheads concert. This served as their break into the local music scene and prompted them to add a drummer and a bassist – schoolmate Dindin Moreno and Buwi Meneses, respectively. The same performance also marked the change of the band's name to Parokya ni Edgar. After high school, Mikko and Jeric decided to withdraw from the band to pursue other interests. As a replacement, the remaining band members invited their friend guitarist Darius Semaña (lead guitar) to their fold.

The name Parokya Ni Edgar came from a class joke by Jeric Estaco recited in one of their classes in high school. Sources state that the class subject was Filipino, and it all started when the teacher asked him where the father of Jose Rizal's fictional hero, Crisostomo Ibarra (in the novel Noli Me Tangere), was educated. It was said that Jeric answered the teacher with the daft remark "sa Parokya ni Edgar". However up to now, the exact background behind this is unknown.
In the early 1990s, the band started performing regularly in Club Dredd, one of the famous clubs in Manila during that time. The band slowly gained popularity during the height of the Filipino rock explosion, with the local rock community opening up to the influence of foreign grunge acts such as Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden.
Eventually, the late managing director of Universal Records, Bella Dy Tan, signed them as contract artists after witnessing one of their performances at Club Dredd.
Soon their initial recordings such as Buloy, Trip and Lutong Bahay were heard across Philippines through radio stations. Their first album, Khangkhungkherrnitz became a triple platinum hit in the Philippines having sold 120,000 units. The other 3 albums include Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (triple platinum), Jingle Balls Silent Night Holy Cow (gold), and Gulong Itlog Gulong (triple platinum).


Band members

Alfonso "Chito" Miranda, Jr. (lead vocals)
Buhawi "Buwi" Meneses (bass guitar)
Darius Gerard "Dar" Semaña (lead guitar)
Gabriel Ignatius "Gab" Chee Kee (rhythm guitar / vocals)
Ferdinand "Dindin" Moreno (drums)


Former member
Francis Vincent "Vinci" Montaner


Studio albums
Khangkhungkherrnitz (1996)
Buruguduystunstugudunstuy (1997)
Gulong Itlog Gulong (1999)
Edgar Edgar Musikahan (2002)
Bigotilyo (2003)
Halina Sa Parokya (2005)
Solid (Parokya ni Edgar album) (2007)
Middle-Aged Juvenile Novelty Pop Rockers (2010)
Bente: Alien Four'se (2013)
Pogi Years Old target="_blank"(2016)