New sounds from The Ryan Cayabyab Singers
Aside from having a name that opens a lot of doors, one of the big advantages being enjoyed by a singing group with a name like The Ryan Cayabyab Singers (RCS) is that of having access to the extraordinary contents of the Ryan Cayabyab music catalogue. That means the opportunity of being able to create a repertoire from a treasure trove of songs by a great composer from the past 40 years that are now considered contemporary classics.
That is just what the RCS members are enjoying now. Would you believe they now have their own version of Limang Dipang Tao which Ryan composed for Celeste Legaspi and the rarely heard but also beautiful Hello Joe, Goodbye? A new album even includes songs first done by the famous group Smokey Mountain.
And they are not only singing his works. Mr. C is with them every step of the way, taking care of song choices, doing the arrangements, I am sure also providing invaluable advice. In fact, as of this moment, the maestro himself is herding them through a month-long performing tour of the U.S. of A.
It was Mr. C himself who put together The Ryan Cayabyab Singers nine years ago. Maybe somewhere in his youth, he listened to the Ray Conniff Singers and thought, one day I will have my own singing group. And so he did. Out of 180 aspirants who auditioned, he handpicked seven young men and women. The ones that he chose were those with the makings of becoming all around performers.
That means being able to sing anything, dance anything, crack jokes, act, etc. All in all, more than the looks and singing voice, Ryan wanted the poise and confidence of total entertainers. I guess Mr. C found what he was looking for and he is obviously very pleased with the way The Ryan Cayabyab Singers have grown in talent over these past years. Otherwise, the RCS would not have lasted this long.
Some of the original members have gone on to other endeavors but the high quality of the sound, the camaraderie, the pleasing over-all look of the ensemble, all remain pretty much intact. The members of today’s RCS are Poppert Bernadas, Edwin Lacsa, Celine Favie, Kaye Tuiseco, VJ Caber, Sherlee de la Cruz and Anthony Castillo, and they can all put on a good show.
They do sound great singing together. Check out their latest collection titled Sa Panaginip Lang. This is the group’s third album and it has an all-Cayabyab line-up. Released earlier were Ryan Cayabyab RCS in 2007 and RCS Repackaged in 2011. The way Mr. C put together the group’s latest album titled Sa Panaginip Lang reminds me of the Hugo Montenegro albums from the ‘70s. This one is just as sleek, with nary a misstep. The music is sweet, romantic and very relaxing.
Sounding familiar and yet arranged very differently are the songs that were originally recorded by Smokey Mountain. Ikaw Lang, If I Could, Leave Me Forever and Masasaktan Lang Ako. The rest are new original compositions wherein Mr. C shares writing credits with the members of RCS. These are Same Sad Song, Di Kayang Aminin, Friends For So Long, Hihintayin Kita, Nasaan Na, I Don’t Know Why, Summer and my favorite from the batch, Sa Panaginip, which as the title says is a dreamy, wistful love song.
All of the selections were arranged by Mr. C with additional tracks arranged, performed and recorded by Merlvin Morallos.
Incidentally, the debut album of T.O.P., the boy band that Mr. C mentored for GMA 7 in the network’s attempt to put together a boy band, is now available. The members of T.O.P., which means the Top One Project, were the winners of the multi-platform competition To The Top conducted over a year ago. They are Adrian Pascual, 17; Miko M, 22; Louie Pedroso, 20; Mico C, 21; and Joshua Jacobe, 22.
The album T.O.P. has an all-originals line-up. This includes the group’s winning song titled Pag-gising, plus Kaya Ko Kaya Mo, Bakit Gano’n?, Somebody, Alaala and the laudable first venture into songwriting by the members of T.O.P., thanks, of course, to all those lessons from Mr. C, which is titled San Na.
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