Music keeps Joe Mari young

“I can’t believe that he’s turning 70 (that’s today, March 11),” this corner’s New York correspondent Edmund Silvestre told Funfare when he watched Jose Mari Chan’s sold-out concert at the Golden Nugget Hotel & Casino in Atlantic City late last year. “He doesn’t look at it. I think it’s the music that keeps him looking and feeling young.”

Upon our request, Edmund very gladly did an interview with Joe Mari who, observed Edmund, “let his guard down…and I thought that he’s a very private person!”

Dr. Ching Legarda, Joe Mari’s concert producer and long-time friend in New York, earlier reminded Edmund to go easy on her “low-key” and “very private” pal. But Joe Mari, surprisingly, didn’t hold back answering every single question.

“Displaying his ‘regular guy’ side,” added Edmund, “he even traded jokes with us, graciously posed for some selfies and allowed us to sing duet with him as he looked back at his favorite compositions.”

Here are some highlights of the interview:

You’ve made it clear you’re not retiring from the music scene.

“Music is a wonderful hobby. Other guys love to play golf or tennis. In my case, I dabble in music. What had begun as a hobby has become a professional career. But I still consider it a hobby. Forever I’m an eight-year-old boy who loves music, who loves meeting people, who loves traveling. So I will never retire from a hobby.”

Don’t you get tired doing all this for decades now?

“Physically tired, yes I do. As you get older, you need sleep and you need to rest and refrain from carrying heavy luggage. But emotionally tired, no. Thank God, I still write songs, although the songs that I write may no longer be relevant to the young people of today. As for singing, I’m more of a crooner and I don’t make birit. I know my capacity or ability that’s why I give songs to other singers. I cannot rock and I cannot sing very powerfully. I’m a mellow crooner.”

Many of your songs are very poetic and evoke a lot of emotions.

“Poetic lyrics, if you marry them to the right melody, will last longer.”

There’s another amazing song you wrote and composed for Joey Albert called I Remember The Boy. Is it true that it’s based on your own experience?

(Smiles) “At the time we were living in New York, we went to Quebec (Canada) and while we were in a hotel room overlooking the Saint Lawrence River, I heard a song on radio that reminded me of this girl that I really liked before although we never intended to marry. It brought back memories of the girl. I tried to look inside my heart to see whether I still have a feeling for her. I realized wala na. Kaya nga I remember the girl but I don’t remember the feeling anymore. I just changed it to ‘boy’ when I gave it to Joey who sang it beautifully.“

Do we know the girl in that song? Does she know that that song is actually about her?

“I won’t name the girl who now has a family of her own. I never told her about it. Everything is over between us and I don’t want it to start something. And certainly I don’t want her husband to know, hahahaha!”

Are you the type of person who counts his blessings?

“Yes. Every day. Every morning I wake up, I thank the Lord for the gift of another day. I thank God for the gift of good health. I thank God for the gift of family, and my business, and my music.” 

You have a very strong faith.

“Faith is a gift. When I was in high school, faith was probably something I knew I had but if I looked inside my heart it wasn’t so welded into my personality. My wife (Maryann Ansaldo) is Christ-centered. She’s always the one that has brought Christ at the center of our marriage. Later on as I got older and I see many of our friends passing away, and some of them didn’t do well and some didn’t marry well, I feel that I’ve been blessed. Not that God loves me more or God loves them less, no. It’s just that we have to be grateful for things that God has given us.” (Joe Mari’s dad was a Chinese immigrant who came to the Philippines in 1934 at age 14 to provide for his widowed mom and his siblings. Joe Mari cinematically detailed his father’s life escaping poverty in China and building a fortune in the Philippines that could rival the Fil-Sino saga of Mother Lily Monteverde’s parents in the 2002 blockbuster drama franchise Mano Po.) 

Your song Please Be Careful With My Heart is still enjoying popularity to date and even reintroduced you to a new generation of people.

“That song is a God’s blessing. I never thought that the song would have a long life that it has. Thanks to that teleserye (ABS-CBN’s Be Careful With My Heart) that captured the hearts of many Filipino televiewers all over the world. I won’t mind if they use my other songs that would be perfect for a teleserye or maybe a movie like probably A Love To Last A Lifetime or Afraid For Love To Fade. I also want someone to re-record another version of Can We Just Stop And Talk Awhile? A lot of people like that song.”

Anything else you want to accomplish?

“For the last 20 years, I’ve been telling myself that I will come out with a Broadway musical. A musical na kahit hindi mailabas sa New York but at least it should be staged in the Philippines and I’ve been wanting to do that. I already have some melodies but I don’t have the librettist. I need someone to write the words. I want a completely original musical with an original story and new songs so people will hear something new. But I really don’t know if it will ever materialize because I’m busy with our business.”

Are you not afraid of growing old?

“I used to be afraid of growing old, but after having lived in (Westchester) New York I’m no longer afraid and I’ll tell you why. Autumn is my favorite season of the year and I have spent 11 autumns in New York marveling at the colors of autumn. Growing old is just like seasons. When you’re in spring, wow, you look forward to summer, you look forward to being 30 years old. Many are afraid to grow old because then you’ll be slower and everything. But no, when you’re old you’ll have a completely different perspective in life like the autumn colors. If growing old is like autumn, then I’m not afraid and I look forward to it.”

You actually look like 20 years younger than your age. Would you share with us secrets to staying fit and healthy?

“The thing that will slow people down is if their health is bad. Some people become frustrated or disappointed that they can no longer do the things that they used to do. It’s all about attitude and lifestyle. I try to keep myself healthy by brisk walking every morning for at least 45 minutes. I watch my diet (breakfast cereals and fruits every morning). I avoid stress from my business by delegating responsibilities to my trusted officers and to my children so that I will not be bearing the burden all by myself.”

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