For much of his life, MG has been in the corporate world. It was working for big corporations that moved him from Sao Paulo in Brazil, where he was born, to Rio de Janeiro, from where he moved on to Jakarta and then to Boston and then to London and then to Singapore. Now, he is in Manila, where he was posted as business unit head in charge of marketing the shingles vaccine in the Philippines for an international pharmaceutical company, with which he spent the last 12 years.
It was in Manila, however, back in April this year, that he decided to retire from corporate work and, as he told me, “allow myself to do nothing.” He showed me a saxophone he bought as soon as he retired, which he had not had the time to take lessons for and cited a handful of books he acquired that he had not had the time to read, either.
He goes by the name MG, just two letters, his initials, now that he has allowed himself to do nothing, but it was also by allowing himself to do nothing that he found the time to really take a personal passion project he founded while in Singapore in 2023 off the ground—House Unite Us, described in its website houseuniteus.com as a “group of friends/like-minded people in South East Asia with similar taste in music who enjoy the nightlife and like to have fun.”
“Manila is just perfect for House Unite Us,” he said. “I could go on traveling the world, but you know I love Manila. I’m enjoying my life here. Filipinos are Latinos, right? We have so much in common. As a party place, it could be Hong Kong, it could be Bangkok, I’m saying this as a wakeup call to the venue owners. Filipinos are happy by default.”
MG is now a “collector of moments,’ as he would say, a DJ, although he has DJ-ed before in places like Zuma in Boston, playing at the DJ’s booth at night, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., after a long day in the office. I asked him if he had the tattoos on his arms after his corporate career. He said he had them with his office hat on, but in places where they could be covered by corporate clothing. “My hair, though, only turned platinum after I left that world,” he added. “I can’t pull off platinum hair in a business suit.”
Since his retirement, MG has mounted a couple of House Unite Us parties in Manila, such as the “Black Party at Geronimo” (Izakaya Geronimo) and the “White Party” at the Dr. Wine Rooftop in Poblacion. Prior to these events, however, even as he was still doing corporate work in Singapore last year, House Unite Us was commissioned to play the music at the Zegna Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, to participate in the Expression Music Festival at Uluwatu in Bali, and to mount a house party at the Ritual Beach Club, also in Bali.
At the moment, MG is busy preparing for “The Party in the Sky,” the next House Unite Us project to be held at The Peak on the 60th floor of the Grand Hyatt Manila. It will feature four DJs, including Manila-based Spanish chef/DJ Chele Gonzalez, playing four different house genres. “I think DJs are all-important at House Unite Us, but House Unite Us is DJ-agnostic. It’s not about the DJs, it’s not about the lineup, it’s not even about me, although I serve as a catalyst,” said MG. “All that’s important is the overall energy, the experience, that everybody has a good time in a place that feels like a hug.”
Music is a hell of a big deal for MG. “Music is the soundtrack of your life,” he said more than a couple of times in the course of our conversation. “When you listen to a song that you like, it takes you somewhere. My father listened to The Beatles, Frank Sinatra…He wasn’t exactly a good singer, but he was always singing all over the house. Growing up, I was also very much influenced by Blink 182, Green Day, Offspring, Eagle-Eye Cherry…”
Is this where House Unite Us traces its roots? “House Unite Us is what happens when your love for music is too big and you cannot just contain it in yourself,” said MG. “It is an overflow of passion that makes you want to move your body. When I have 200 people dancing on the floor, if they walk away happy, then I’m done.”
What drives MG is the idea of people—dancing in wild abandon, dancing in the moment, dancing to their memories, dancing to their heart’s content—finding connections to each other, to themselves, to their souls.
But why do people need to party? “It’s not a need,” he said. “But every single human being will benefit from a few minutes or hours when they can just connect with themselves and perhaps do that in a place where everyone else is doing the same. If you and I were in a stadium cheering for the Philippine team, it’s not going to be the same as when there are 10,000 of us doing the same thing. That’s what happens at a party, say, 200 people hearing the same song, remembering some chapter in their lives.”
MG turns somewhat into a philosopher when he talks about a good party. He quotes from books. He draws from movies he loves. On the DJ’s booth, he is a psychologist who can read the crowd, a poet who understands the rise and fall of emotions.
“Music is the soundtrack of our lives,” said MG again, as he played a few songs for me from his current playlist of 70 carefully chosen tracks with which he stirred up memories that, in turn, made my soul stir.
“The Party in the Sky” by House Unite Us will be held on Sept. 20 at The Peak on the 60th floor of the Grand Hyatt Manila, 8th Avenue corner 35th, BGC. Check out @houseuniteus on Instagram for tickets.