Kundiman legend Ric Manrique Jr. gone at 76

Ric Manrique Jr., who died at the age of 76 on Sept. 23, in California from a heart attack and complications from diabetes will be fondly remembered as the kundiman singer who parlayed losing in Tawag Ng Tanghalan (TNT) into a long and successful music career.

The year was 1960 and Manrique was then a member of the famed Mabuhay Singers, a group under the Villar Music label that especialized in native Filipino songs. But he had dreams of a solo career and decided to try his luck in the TNT talent contest on radio and television.

The top-rating Tawag was then known as the best springboard for a singing career and had already produced stars in the Spanish singing Jose Gonzales, later better known as comedian and game show host Pepe Pimentel and singer-actor Diomedes Maturan. The same could happen to Manrique, a choir boy at the Colegio de San Juan de Letran glee club who later dropped out of college to go fulltime into singing.

Manrique’s contest piece was the soaring ballad Alone At Last, popularized by Tony Bennett.  It was a showstopper and he did very well.  He beat all new contenders and was the reigning champion for 12 weeks. But he then lost out to kundiman singer Cenon Lagman who became the over-all winner of that year’s tilt.

Losing at the TNT, however, became the start of Manrique’s solo career. Tawag director Teddy Valdemor was also a songwriter and he gave Manrique one of his compositions to record. Titled Till I Die, it was also the theme of the popular radio soap opera Diwa Ng Pag-asa. The song became Manrique’s successful launching pad as a recording artist.

Till I Die was one of the few songs written by Filipinos in English to become a hit at the time. Other examples of the then emerging pop form were A Million Thanks To You by Pilita Corrales, God Knows by Randy Madrid and Flowers In May by Carmen Perina. They bucked competition from foreign records and the local kundimans and novelties to become big sellers.

It was, however, the combination of Manrique’s crystal clear baritone with plaintive melodies and Tagalog lyrics that introduced modern variations on the kundiman and brought about his biggest hits. Many of the songs he recorded are now considered the classics that bridged the path between the haranas of Ruben Tagalog and the Western-influenced pop ballads of the ’60s era.

Among these are: Sapagka’t Kami Ay Tao Lamang, Dahil Sa Isang Bulaklak, Ang Daigdig Ko’y Ikaw, Maruja, Tanging Diyos Lamang Ang Nakakaalam, Saan Ka Man Naroroon, Magkaibang Daigdig, Lahat Ng Araw, Paano Kita Lilimutin, Kapag Puso’y Sinugatan, Birheng Walang Dambana and Iginuhit Sa Buhangin.

Maybe there will come a time in the future when Filipino music will feel a need and produce a fresh crop of kundiman interpreters. Until that happens one of those we will look back to with admiration will be Ric Manrique Jr.

Speaking of TNT, Tawag Ng Tanghalan is now experiencing renewed popularity thanks to its portion in the daily variety show, It’s Showtime on ABS-CBN, complete with fearful gongs and merciless hurados. Given that, I thought it might be nice to look back at the winners of the original Tawag which produced some of the country’s greatest singers. And the list includes a then only 14-year-old with perfect tones named Nora Aunor.

Here goes now, culled from various sources, the list of Tawag Ng Tanghalan champions and their winning songs from the year 1955 to 1972 when the show went off the air because of the imposition of Martial Law:

1955 - Jose Gonzales, Angelitos Negros.

1956 - Rizal “Boy” Ortega, Ponciana

1957 - Larry Martinez, I’ve Got You Under My Skin

1958 - Leon Ibrado, The Night Has A Thousand Eyes

1959 - Diomedes Maturan, Rose Tattoo

1960 - Cenon Lagman, Ikaw Lamang Ang Iibigin

1961 - Rufina Esperancilla, Pandangguhan

1962 - Conchita Penalosa, If You Are But A Dream

1963 - Boy Leonardo, Tammy

1964 - Eva Adona, Somewhere Over The Rainbow

1965 - Jun Pena, Autumn Leaves

1966 - Elizabeth Torres, Bewitched

1967 - Elizabeth Ledesma, People

1968 - Nora Aunor, Moonlight Becomes You

1969 - Jonathan Potenciano, You’re Closer To Me

1970 - Novo Bono Jr., If You Go Away

1971 - Alice Mendez, A House Is Not A Home

1972 - Marsha de Vera, Where Am I Going?