Australian-Filipino recording artist gets big break

An Australia-based Maasin City native is one overseas recording star to watch.

Cezka Mariz Lapurga, 19, will be recording her own compositions with renowned music producer Andrew Lane this month, just two years after she was selected by the Australian Institute for Performing Arts (AIPA) to record an eight-track album in Los Angeles.

But to be invited by Lane, who had worked on platinum-record hits like High School Musical, Hannah Montana and Disneymania 4, is such a blessing, said Cezka’s father, Edgar.

Although the album with AIPA failed to soar, Cezka is now hoping that an album with Lane would be her big break.

Cezka is the eldest of three daughters of Edgar, a native of Baguio City, and Marlyn, of Barangay Dongon in Maasin City.

Her two sisters are also performers. Eliza Mae, 17,  is also a singer and songwriter while nine-year-old Jazmin Monique   started performing last month.

Cezka was only seven years old when she first performed during a school play at Saint Joseph College in Maasin in 2001.

Since then, she was often invited to sing during Sunday Masses in Barangay Dongon, Maasin City, special gatherings and school programs.

In 2002, the entire family migrated to New Zealand after Marlyn found a job as a nurse there. Edgar later worked as an architectural cad operator.

While in New Zealand, Cezka took private lessons in opera. She also enrolled in Performing Arts School of New Zealand and  in Performance.net to hone her singing and dancing skills.

After five years, the family moved to Brisbane, Australia because New Zealand was too cold, said Edgar.

A year later, Cezka, then 14, enrolled in Bright Stars Performing Arts Academy workshops and took private voice lessons.

In September 2011, then 17-year-old Cezka Mariz was the only Filipino among 15 teenagers from Australia who were selected by AIPA to record the eight-track album in Los Angeles.

“The song she wrote and composed (for AIPA) is already available on iTunes,” said Edgar.

Cezka was the front act during a concert of singer Sarah Geronimo in Brisbane, Australia last Aug. 11.

Cezka’s composition, “Hey Baby” which she said she wrote in just 10 minutes, won the annual Quest News/McDonald YoungStar Award of the Pine Rivers Press/Northlakes Times in the Arts & Education category in June 2012.

Last April, Lane offered Cezka the chance to record her own album, saying he was impressed by the young girl’s singing talent after seeing her performances posted on YouTube.

Lane invited Cezka to go to Los Angeles on Sept. 14 to 18 to record her songs, said Edgar.

In her Facebook page, Cezka wrote: “Heading to LA … incredibly nervous but excited at the same time.”

Her family and friends in Maasin City are cheering her on and hoping for an international hit song.