Thursday, October 18, 2012

o, ulan!




              a friend once told me that people ought to have their picture taken every so often so that when they die they would have a recent picture to put above their coffins or wherever a picture needs to be put while their body lies inside the coffin.  said matter-of-factly: so that when she dies she would have a recent picture put up.  this is probably more of a chinese tradition (this thing of having the picture of the departed put wherever a picture needs to be put) but filipinos have been catching on if you have observed.  it's a good idea if you have a beautiful face; i hate having my picture taken.
                it would be good (for me) to be remembered by the songs i’ve written, and the joy and the smiles they’ve brought to friends.  i’m not dying, am i?  or am i?  of course, i am.  who isn’t?  i hope not soon.  but how soon is soon?  sharks, darn socks!
                i’ve written a handful of songs from nature songs to love songs to death songs, yes, death songs, songs about death and dying, which if you ponder is what life, in a nutshell, is all about.  i’m not being morbid, just realistic and... matter-of-factly.
                the truth is i wished some great artist would sing my songs, i mean, someone other than, better than or just better equipped than me.  a handful of the songs i’ve written, i imagine some artist were singing it.  “insensitive” (i imagine) would sound a lot better with a group like side-a band.  “nangibang-bayan” for someone like bamboo; a friend commented when he heard the title “nangibang-bayan”, he said, “e di nakaka-iyak yun.”  sabi ko, “hindi, actually.”  baka ang maiyak lang dun e yung electric guitar, pag pinaiyak na ng lead guitarist, hahaha!  my long-time pangarap was for grace nono (or someone of her genre) to sing “takip-silim”; sunsets are dramatic, melodramatic.  did i mean nostalgic?  melancholic?  whatever... 
                a couple of notable influences are obvious in a couple of songs i’ve written.  “capricho” (it becomes obvioius, yeah, once you hear it, which really might take a while) was heavily influenced by “muli” by the mysterious man.  “o, ulan!” the featured song in this blog http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fY7zWGn-dJM&feature=youtu.be (it becomes obvious) was heavily influenced by “abakada” by florante (but not including laura).  it becomes obvious that i’m heavily influenced by artists from the 1970’s.  it becomes obvious that i’m heavily influenced by the catch phrase, “it becomes obvious i’m heavily influenced by”.
                a generation gap is when you and your friends talk about simon & garfunkel and your kids think it’s a law office!
                by the way, some of the songs i mentioned above have not yet been previously recorded.  they may or may not be in the days to come, depending on multiple factors, one of which is my broken heart, ah, i mean, my broken guitar, hahaha!  a broken guitar = a broken heart.
                well, pasensya na, the songs come from archived audio files in my hd which were not professionally recorded.   and, tiyaga na lang sa mga pictures, hinack kolang kung saan-saan yan hahaha!!!
                but whenever i sing these songs live, to my friends only, of course, it brings them joy and smiles – make my day!


               

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