Today we’d like to introduce you to Abel Losenara, Jr.
Hi Abel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Well, it all started when I was at a very young age back home in the Philippines. I’m gonna go ahead and say everything started with music for me. I come from a musically inclined family. Growing up as a Christian, most of my family was in the music ministry. My mom and her sisters were song leaders and her only brother was the drummer of our church.
When I was about 4 or 5 years old, I used to watch my uncle play the drums during the practice day and night and I would fall asleep next to him playing and he would carry me home after. When I was six, my mom took me to see a town parade and when the drum line passed, my mom panicked because she let go of my hand for a quick second and I disappeared. Nobody could find me at all.
Several minutes later, one of my mom’s friends showed up with me holding his hand and told her “your son was in the middle of the parade with the snare drummers just grinning”. With a big sigh of relief, my mom came up to me and said don’t you ever do that again! As I replied, “I wanna be a drummer when I grow up”.
That’s when I knew I had a huge passion for music. When I turned 8, I was the church’s new drummer for the music ministry. I was a very small kid and people would laugh when I play because they would only be able to see drum sticks flying in the air. Now that I think about it, it is a ridiculous look lol. Music has been embedded into my blood since birth I guess.
When I turned 21, my family too had migrated to America. Everything was so different like night and day like literally, the Philippines is 12 hours advance in time so my days were night and my nights were days. I didn’t have any friends or knew anyone except for my family. Had no idea how the world works around here so my world was turned upside down. Yet, I went out by myself and found friends on my own.
Gladly it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. Years later, I’d already given up my music background and just worked a 9-5 like a normal American back then. One day, my friend from the Philippines who’s been living in Jersey for years decided to come to visit me here in Florida but his flight got delayed so my little sister and I had to wait at the airport for a while.
She was playing a song on her PSP and she looked at me and said “You know Henry made this song”. Henry was her boyfriend back then. I replied “What? What does that even mean?” I honestly thought songs just come on the radio not thinking somebody has to make it before it can even be on the radio. So I was literally mind blown when she told me he made it on his computer. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. That night, she took me to his house so her boyfriend could show me how it works.
I really do wish she was recording me when he was showing me because my jaw was on the floor with eyes wide open totally mind blown by how amazing the software I was looking at was. A year later, I build my own little home studio and have been working with amazing artists creating original music from scratch. 2 years after that, I got signed in LA as a music producer.
Not gonna go into details but long story short, I got screwed over big time and had to move back home. Depressed and was ready to give everything up and be stuck with a 9-5 forever. But I just couldn’t seem to let go of it so that was when I started to get more creative with the things I was putting out. I was done just posting links on my social media so I thought, I should record myself making music from scratch. So I did. I saved up money and got a little 1080p camera and started recording.
It did well but it didn’t scratch my creative itch completely so I thought, hmm, I should start recording music videos for my songs. So I did. They were garbage nonetheless but I did it lol. Then one day, I got a hold of a Canon DSLR and that’s when things shifted big time. Seeing the quality ignited a whole bunch of great ideas in my head. Now, I own a film company that’s top 10 in Jacksonville.
And yes, you guessed it I make all of the music scores and sound designs for the videos I produce. Also, I am the main music producer for an EDM DJ duo, Foreign Suspects based in Jacksonville, Florida.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh, definitely not a smooth road at all. Especially with film. Not only is the learning curve very steep but I’m also colorblind so you can imagine what it’s like to be a colorblind filmmaker. Coming from an Asian household, there’s no such thing as “chasing your dream”.
It’s either be a nurse or join the military cause everyone knows I will never be a doctor lol. My parents were constantly telling me to get a real job and do something with my life. But I never gave up even though we were constantly fighting over me getting a real job.
I just knew they’re gonna thank me for my ambitions one day and that time is here. But it has been a very bumpy road. Took exactly 10 years to see next-level results. I’ve lived like a bum living with my parents as an adult for several years working random part-time jobs anywhere.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about AG Cinematiques?
AG Cinematiques is a film company that specializes in creative cinematography and capitalizes on clients’ bare-bones ideas to help them come to life in a meaningful, creative, and cinematic way.
I take every project as if it is my own and so each one is always special in its own way.
What was your favorite childhood memory?
Oh man, there’s so much. But I would say the most unforgettable one is when my cousin and I were racing on our bikes down the street back home.
We were going full speed and when approaching an intersection, I was going way too fast to stop I see this semi-truck coming in from the right and all of a sudden, everything was in slow motion. I could see everything that was happening and since I couldn’t stop on time, I decided to take a very very sharp right.
So sharp that I was almost leveled on the floor and went under the truck and came back out before the wheels could hit me. I felt like a total badass superhero but also was very very pale and I was shaking uncontrollably. I have never been so scared in my life and also my cousin, lol!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.agcinematiques.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/agcinematiques
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/agcinematiques
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/AbeLink
- SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/foreignsuspects
Image Credits
@nidiaenyz
