Meet No Name: The Duo Throwing The City's Culture-Coded Soirees
After their concerto hit social media, people took notice and soon they were faced with a 300-person waitlist.
(SPOT.ph) Picture this: you’re in a historical building’s penthouse dome, seated around a string quartet performing their rendition of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own” while sipping on a glass of rosé chosen specifically to pair with the night’s theme. Your anxieties about coming alone dissipate as the melodies from classical versions of familiar pop songs float through the room. As the sun sets, some members of the 40-person crowd begin to sing along to the music – a string rendition of “Don’t Stop Believin.’” A little tipsy from the wine and enchanted by the intimate candlelit setting, you can’t help but sing too.
That’s the Noname experience in a nutshell. Founded by friends and former co-workers Echo Bueno and Chili Perez, Noname is a collective dedicated to cultivating community through unique cultural experiences in Metro Manila.
While they’re perhaps most known for their Escolta concertos, the group doesn’t subscribe to a particular theme or type of event. “Sometimes we’re quiz night hosts, other times we’re wine tasters or film screeners,” says Chili.
As their Instagram bio states, they’re “dedicated to making more third spaces in Manila” — a vision inspired mostly by Echo and Chili’s own desire to widen their social circles and find like-minded souls to talk to.
How No Name came to be
We are on a video call a few days after their last concerto. Dubbed “Journeys Vol. I,” Echo and Chili’s seventh overall run of the in-demand event which they first conceptualized in 2023. The July run of Journeys culminated with a wedding proposal by an audience member on day two – a first for them in the two years that they’ve been organizing these small gatherings.
It’s all the more intriguing to discover that the two are balancing Noname with corporate 9 to 5s. With degrees in marketing and economics, the self-confessed “frustrated artists” met at work a few years earlier as management trainees for a multinational corporation. They found kindred spirits in each other through their love of culture, marathoning films, visiting jazz bars, drinking at Poblacion spots, and talking about museums and art in their free time.
As avid travelers and booze lovers, the two love to get a feel of their destination’s culture by seeking out jazz shows, wine bars, and film screenings while abroad. The seed for Noname was planted in 2022, when a trip to Singapore got Echo thinking about all the possibilities of emulating the experiences from his travels back home.
“Everything is inspired by experiences we’ve had before,” says Echo. “And kind of understanding that from those experiences, what would I have wanted to experience a little bit better. Maybe it's – for example in a concerto – I would've loved to sing during the time a quartet would play,” adds Echo. “Or it might be during a jazz night when I would've loved to hear OPM.”
A ploy to make friends
A lot of Noname’s charm comes from the guerrilla-like manner in which they plan their events. With the exception of some of the Escolta concertos, no two Noname events are the same.
“We never really planned to get here,” says Chili, who still works full-time at a multinational FMCG. “In fact, we were just looking for some place to stave off boredom and to be a bit more creative and I think when you're in corporate, you really feel that every day. You really feel like you get intellectually challenged but not creatively stimulated.”
“In reality, I feel like we’re all doing this for the vibe,” adds Echo with a laugh. And as passion projects go, the first few events saw them putting out more money than they were earning.
Noname’s first official event was a screening of Cinema Paradiso at SinePop in Cubao, followed by a double feature of X and What We Do in The Shadows. They served Engkanto beer and popped open a bottle of wine while discussing the films with the friends who showed up. “It was really a ploy to make friends. We were very happy when we had 10 people. 10 people talking about K-pop for two hours after the movie,” remarks Chili.
From there, they decided to open things up to the public, both of them putting their marketing knowhow to good use, with Echo handling operations and graphic design and Chili handling aesthetics and overall event vibe. Eventually, they enlisted friends to help out with logistics, food and beverage planning, and PR. It was all very much a result of them just going with the flow. In fact, Noname is called such because the duo had a hard time coming up with one name to encapsulate what they wanted to build.
Several screenings, a quiz night, two parties, and a wine tasting later, they chanced upon First United’s penthouse dome while visiting Escolta and just knew it was the perfect location to stage their dream event: a candlelit concerto.
They piloted it first with friends, centering the event around the theme “Emotions” so they could add the dream songs they wanted to hear on strings (and pair it with the 2021 Antech Cremant de Limoux Emotion Rosé). The Manila Philharmonic Orchestra was thankfully on board when they pitched it, and they commissioned illustrator France Daffon to do the poster and program art – a request Chili says she had to really beg for (“We couldn’t even afford enough candles, what more this?” jokes Echo).
Their winning formula
The investment has since paid off. Once videos of the concerto hit social media, interest slowly started pouring in, and by their third run they were faced with a 300-person waitlist.
It was through this that they found their footing, with what Echo likes to call their “winning formula”: music or movies, alcohol, and human connection. And since they know their target audience, they’re adamant about starting and ending early – none of their events end past midnight.
And while the air of exclusivity and mystery wrought on by their Instagram (and recently TikTok)- only social media presence and “DM to score an invite” bio seems intentional, they both insist that it wasn’t. “I remember we wrote that bio way before anything was a thing and we forgot it was invite-only and we just rolled with it. But it worked. Someone you know, or someone your friends know invites you, and that's how you build a community. I don't want it to feel like it's a brand ever,” Chili says matter-of-factly.
Because of this, they still make sure to go through all the DMs and reply to those interested to attend. “It's also our way of getting to know the people, di ba? In the spirit of building a community, you don't want a stranger,” she adds.
Since the very first Emotions in September 2023, Noname has collaborated with more local artists and musicians, holding live music events like the Dali dream realm that was Soul Night (featuring singer-songwriter Nicole Asensio at The Astbury in Poblacion), and the intimate Wong Kar Wai-coded Jazz Night (featuring Faye Yupano and Nunyez Burgan of jazz project Project Yazz at Cafe Siriusdan in San Juan). Both events ended with singalong moments from the crowd (Echo still marvels at how the jazz night crowd was able to sing the Japanese city pop tune “Stay With Me (Mayonaka no Door”).
“I'm really happy that we're also helping out these artists and exposing them to a different audience,” says Echo, recounting how Project Yazz, and even the Manila Philharmonic Orchestra have told him how much they enjoyed playing at Noname events because of the crowd.
He also jokes about “Noname platinum visa mastercard members,” or what they like to brand the Nonamers who attend more than three events. There’s a good number of regulars who were strangers-turned-friends.
“There’s one girl who kept going alone to our earlier concertos. She didn’t know anyone, but now she’s friends with so many of our friends! When I saw her again last weekend, I gave her a big hug!” adds Echo. “I feel like the community in itself…Seeing them connect and afterwards, [seeing them] talking to those artists and musicians is what makes it worthwhile.”
The concertos paved the way for their more recent concepts, which have in turn also led to them meeting all kinds of people, some of whom they end up collaborating with for future events. For their upcoming concept, they’re once again enlisting the vocal chops of Nicole Asensio, and tapping Moko Plants to turn First United’s penthouse dome into a garden for a daytime concerto and merienda cena. They plan to go back to their roots at the end of September, with a film screening at SinePop to celebrate their two-year anniversary.
Beyond that, it’s anyone’s game. With more friends helping out and better systems in place, it helps that the pair still feel like they’re getting started. The ultimate dream, they say, would be to do a concerto in a museum, or even open a permanent space for the community they’ve built.
Noname is a space for you to meet new people, or an excuse for people to even reconnect with friends who they haven't talked to in a while. No judgement or gatekeeping – you can even go alone. And in any case – don’t hesitate to approach Echo and Chili – they’ll make sure you walk out with two more friends (them) regardless.
“Everyone knows music and movies and art and food and drinks bring people together. We're just the vehicle to bring all of those together,” says Chili.
For updates and more information about upcoming events, follow Noname at @wedonthaveanameph.