On Friendship & Free Gigs

ONE stress-free day in 1972 (I was sweet 16 years old), having just completed editorial work for a whole JINGLE Music Magazine issue, and everyone is heading for home...from out of the blue...I asked Kuya Gilbert if UP is offering a music course. His face lit up and said, "Tamang-tama yan para sa business natin -- music-related din."

Together with my other brother Raul -- the three of us inquired (agad-agad) at the College of Music one fine day. And right then and there, voice professor and National Artist Aurelio Estanislao (nagkalat lang naman ang mga National Artist sa UP) led me to a room with a piano (not with a view) and asked me to sing solfeggio for my audition. No written test was required. Unlike today, students go through the rigors of hurdling entrance exams.

Fast forward. Our batch in the College of Music was the biggest among all batches (I'm clueless about the succeeding ones) that we had to hold our choral classes at the Abelardo Hall. The whole orchestra section is almost full to the rafters with us freshies.

With the help of graduating students and assistant professors...one by one, they made us sing solfeggio (again) to determine which section we belonged.

The seating arrangement: yung soprano (mga girls, op kors), sama-sama sa left side, sa harap ng stage mismo; sa right side yung alto (girls uli); yung tenor (mga boys), sa likod ng alto; at yung bass/baritone (boys syempre), sa likod ng soprano nakaupo. Hindi lang yon... merong soprano 1 up to soprano 2 (pag malawak ang vocal range ng student), and so on. Me, I belonged to tenor 1 and 2.

I will never forget forming lingering first impressions of the tall and lanky Jun Latonio during our first chorus class meeting in Abelardo as he raised his hand to answer the prof's question: Can you describe the G chord in one word? His answer was emphatic and definite: "Majestic." Another word that comes to mind is "powerful" -- as opposed to the D chord that sounds "soft" and "feminine." "Delicate" is another one.

We naturally gravitated towards each other, that's why Jun and I became instant buddies. Everytime we had a break, he would offer me a Philip Morris stick. Yosi muna kami. I was too shy (charot) to decline his offer. I didn't smoke then, you see.

To make the long story short, the daily smoking within breaks gradually got me hooked on nicotine that I began to buy my own (Marlboro na, yung maiksi) cigarettes eventually. Bad influence si Jun...hehe.

I will never forget the many free gigs we did in the ‘70s. In déjà vu, I still have vivid flashbacks montaged just like a music video loop (in my head) of Jun and I -- with him playing his Japan-made (from Nagoya) Yairi acoustic guitar (which was a gift from his mother) and me singing lead vocals while he did the harmonies. 

We jammed in-between the sets of that night's "pwesto" solo act in Butterfly...a free-spirit folk house in the ‘70s that helped deserving local talents. Butterfly’s equivalent is Club Dredd. It was situated just across the main UP entrance in Commonwealth Ave. where TechnoHub is currently located. The songs we played there escaped my forgetful mind though. Tsk tsk...

The dimly-lit and cramped stage became the playground for budding solo acts playing guitar in those post-Vietnam (although it is listed that it ended in 1975) years. Remember Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Simon & Garfunkel were the early folk heroes back then. Although papasikat na sina James Taylor, CSNY, Cat Stevens at Joni Mitchell nuon. Tinutugtog na nga namin ni Jun yung "You Can Close Your Eyes" at "Blossom" ni JT, at ng Jingle Clan folk rock group yung "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" ng CSNY, "Father and Son" ni Cat Stevens at "Old Man" ni Neil Young.

The two of us also gigged pro bono in Spindle in Banawe where we once sang a song by Batdorf & Rodney called "Poor Man's Dream" which was then regularly played in DZRJ. Kuya catched us live there and even advised me to also play the guitar. Two guitars daw dapat.

We also did a "one-time-only" (di na kasi naulit) campus tour in UP Diliman. JINGLE musical director and chords guru Hexel Hernando invited us to sing before an all-female Home Economics class prior to his spiritual talk before them. We were naturally floored and ecstatic. Another DZRJ staple hit, "I'll Be Leaving Soon" by Mark-Almond, was our tour de force for that gig. I even bade the class "goodbye" after Jun strummed the last chord. We both had wide grins while exiting the room...a sign that deep within us we slayed it.

Another unforgettable gig was Sapot, directed by UP College of Mass Communication professor Maryo J. delos Reyes(+) held in St. Joseph College's auditorium -- a concert featuring some folk singers (Prof. Lester Demetillo played there, too) from UP, and headlined by the Apo Hiking Society. Jun sang Elton John's "Texan Love Song." I did "Mr. Tambourine Man" by Bob Dylan with Jun doing back-up vocals. For our finale, I sang the Beatles' "Blackbird" with Jun doing the complex plucking lines. It felt good because we know we got everything right. Walang sabit ang bawat kalabit ng gitara at sambit ng mga titik (buhat-bangko)...

I used to sing Elton John songs with him tinkering the Steinway grand piano in Abelardo Hall. Wala lang...kami-kami lang. He also regularly played "Bridge Over Troubled Water" there. You see, Jun and I had a lot of indelible moments during our college years. Pareho kasi kami ng musical preferences...

Inevitably, we went our separate ways raising our own disparate families...We polarized, became two worlds apart, losing contact with one another.

Jun carved a name for himself while pursuing his passion for music, and went on to become a well-known pianist, arranger, film scorer, conductor, composer...Nagtuluy-tuloy siya. Tinutukso ko nga siyang "Ryan Cayabyab, Jr." noon.

Me, I continued my career in music publication...our family sphere. Ito ngang JINGLE. And who would have thought that one day, Jun and I would meet again (and have a need for more than reminiscin') (love song yun ah) full circle and amalgamate (whoa!) via a long delayed project of mine.

Guillermo and Latonio

Fast forward once again. We recently got reconnected through FB 46 long years (more or less) after -- even though he stood as my wedding best man, and together we did the musical scoring for a Regal comedy flick directed by Joey Javier Reyes some time in the early '90s. I then asked him if he could help me arrange and record my self-penned song. E-mail made everything easy for us... 

While in the studio catching up with each other, Jun played me his instrumental new age/jazz compositions (I never heard anything like that) that are "ready whenever someone asks for a material from me." Parang ready-made suits for sale. And like a flashing bulb in my head...I immediately envisage a Jun Latonio solo album featuring what I just heard a la chill OPM jazz tunes from YouTube. Am I hard-selling?

And so…without much ado (and hubbub) --no drumrolls please! -- I humbly give you my own "Mahal Kita." Hay naku, nailabas din sa baul sa wakas! Thank you, Lord!