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How a heavy metal musician struck the right notes in a Winnipeg Filipino band

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When Stephen Bradford rocks out on bass during a gig with his band Alapaap, he keeps his mouth shut.

That’s because his fellow musicians in the Winnipeg band are singing in Tagalog a lot of the time. And he doesn’t speak, much less sing, the language.

“I don’t know any of the lyrics,” said Bradford. “I’ve tried learning some of them to see what they mean and all that, but the guys in the band, they help me out.”

One of those guys is drummer Kent Primavera, who brought Bradford into the band after meeting him at work in 2017.

“Everybody’s happy that there’s a white guy” in the band, said Primavera, “because in music, actually, we are all the same.”

Alapaap, which means “heaven” in Tagalog, plays at special events and music venues around Winnipeg.

This photo captures the group performing live on a stage illuminated by vibrant pink and blue lighting.
Bassist Stephen Bradford has been playing with Alapaap since about 2017. (Sisler Create)

As a younger man, Bradford played in a heavy metal band called Lunacy. They released a CD in 2000, but the band later fell apart. When the band’s lead singer died in 2012, it was a turning point for Bradford.

“That kind of made me kind of stop playing for a while,” said Bradford.

He credits Alapaap and his bandmates — Primavera, Marciano Dela Cruz and Elmer Sobretodo — for resurrecting his love of playing music, even if he doesn’t always know what the lyrics mean.

“Music is  something that everybody knows,” said Bradford. “It doesn’t matter what language you speak, you all get it by the beat of the music, and it just clicks.”

Alapaap, and Bradford’s musical connection within the band, are now the focus of a short documentary by film students in the Create program at Sisler High School in Winnipeg. 

Students Whydah Marley, Chantelle Roderiguez, Kingsley Shewchuk and Caleb Saladaga produced the short video.

Click the player above to watch it.

Meet the filmmakers 

Head and shoulders portrait of young Filipino woman with long, blond straight hair. She is wearing a black top with gold ring accents.
Whydah Marley has always loved documenting life’s moments, a passion that naturally led her into filmmaking. She sees film as a way to capture emotions, tell stories and preserve memories. She enjoys getting lost in music and art. Her curiosity and time with loved ones inspire the everyday moments at the heart of her storytelling. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of young woman with long, straight black hair. She has braces on her teeth and is wearing a V-neck T-shirt.
Chantelle Rodriguez is a proud Filipino who graduated from Sisler High School. She has had a long-standing passion for filmmaking since middle school, specifically editing and cinematography. Beyond filmmaking, she also enjoys photography to capture meaningful memories, and scrapbooking to enhance her creativity. (Sisler Create)
Head and shoulders portrait of a young man with closely cropped brown hair and a mess of dyed blond curls on top. He is wearing a black T-shirt.
Kingsley Shewchuk is Métis and Ukrainian. He was born and raised in Winnipeg’s North End and graduated from Sisler High School. With aspirations to become a filmmaker and editor, he joined Sisler’s Create program on a whim after taking years of graphics classes. He is a self-proclaimed horror junkie and enjoys gaming, biking and lifting, as well as watching anime and sports and sometimes indulging in his catalogue of dropped hobbies. He likes trying a lot of new things. (Jurgen Haussler)
Head and shoulders portrait of a young man with short, dark hair. He has thin, black-frame glasses and is wearing black sweatshirt.
Caleb Saladaga is a storyteller at heart, blending creativity and technical skill to craft films and media projects that leave a lasting impression. With experience in editing, production and narrative development, he thrives in collaborative environments where ideas can grow into meaningful visuals. Driven by curiosity and a passion for connection, Caleb continues to explore new ways to bring stories to life and inspire audiences through his work. (Jurgen Haussler)

More about Project POV: Sisler Create

CBC Manitoba’s Project POV: Sisler Create is a storytelling collaboration that partners filmmaking students with CBC Manitoba journalists to produce short docs. You can see past projects here. 

The Winnipeg School Division’s Create program is hosted at Sisler High School and trains post-high students in the creative digital arts.

During the fall of 2025, CBC journalists taught storytelling to filmmaking students and led producing workshops at Sisler.

Create focuses on education and career pathways into the creative industries. Students can take courses in animation, film, game design, visual effects, graphic design and interactive digital media.

Sisler Create is currently looking for students for its 2026-27 school year. For more information and to apply, go to sislercreate.com.

Source: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/filipino-band-alapaap-tagalog-winnipeg-9.7065430?cmp=rss