GARY GRANADA: Saving Cebuano music

CEBU, Philippines - Folk singer-songwriter Gary Granada sat down for an exclusive interview with The Freeman to discuss his new album ‘Gyud’ and his ideas on art and music.

Why the title ‘Gyud’?

Gyud is the most often used Cebuano word. It’s like ‘Gid’ in Ilonggo. If you go to London and British territories, they always say ‘Indeed.’ In fact, instead of ‘Yes’ they say ‘Indeed.’ It was a good thing no one has used it as a title before, so it was perfect.

Your original compositions can be freely downloaded online. Safe to say you don’t make albums for profit?

It’s not my bread and butter. I sell half of my soul to advertising. That’s where I make my living. That’s why I was able to dictate my pace and make my albums without any consideration of whether they will sell or not. That will be the least of my considerations. It doesn’t bother me if my albums don’t make money. I have this passion for music, so I produce my own albums when I have a little money. And I upload them online. The reason I let others download them freely is, my agenda in writing songs is not to reach the radio, but to reach the classrooms. I want my music to be studied in classrooms. Classrooms are the frontline of people’s consciousness. If a teacher requires the song to be studied and discusses it in class and the students learn about these issues…that’s my agenda. A lot of teachers use it. They tell their pupils to go to this website, ‘O assignment niyo itong song na ito ha…’ That’s why I decided to make it accessible.

How did your interest for songwriting begin?

My father was with the church choir and he forced me to play the ukulele. I was reluctant then. Eventually, I realized it was good to learn the instrument. We were not a well-off family. My father was a fisherman and a municipal clerk, while my mother was a dressmaker. The magic of music was that, when you start plucking your instrument, and you start singing, you get the attention of people. They listened to you. That thrilled me. For a person who does not have too many things, that was very empowering. Imagine sitting on stage in a hall full of people, you have the mic all to yourself, nobody speaks but you. No one can even object to what you’re saying. You just watch my concert. You even paid to watch me play. It’s like you have a hundred slaves that are prepared to listen to whatever you say. I can actually push my ideas. If I have an opinion, I can sing it. The others have to also know how to write and sing to be able to object. Kantahin mo rin kung ayaw mo yung kinanta ko. Just like a teacher, who can talk for hours and say what he/she wants with everybody listening. That is empowering. Mas kuyaw pa sa musician because even when you’re no longer there, they can actually play your album and listen to you still. It only becomes dangerous if the ideas you’re trying to say are bigoted, unproductive or promote hatred.

What songs of yours would you say defined your career?

There are two that I would consider my major works. One is the musical ‘Lean.’ It was based on the life of Leandro Alejandro, my batchmate in UP who was a young political activist. He was killed while running for Congress. I did the libretto and music for that musical. Lately, I did children’s songs for educational materials. These are works that I consider really major. Of course, when you ask the industry, they identify me with my pop songs and jingles. I did the jingles for Ginebra San Miguel, I did ‘Kahit Konti’, ‘Tagumpay Nating Lahat’ and ‘Mabuti Pa Sila.’ But these aren’t what I consider my major works. My major works are studied in classrooms. I did the music and editing for the ‘Sino Ka Ba Jose Rizal?’ musical, and it is even used in the standard Rizal classes of UP. It’s a million times more fulfilling for me when it’s being studied than just heard over the radio. Maybe because I also used to be a public school teacher.

Just to give us an idea, what is the usual rate for a Gary Granada jingle?

Let’s just say, I’m one of the highest paid. Advertising really pays me well.

What jingle gave you your biggest payday?

It will still be the one for Ginebra San Miguel. They bought that for millions.

You’re one of the 14 finalists in the first Philippine Popular (PhilPop) Music Festival, with finals night scheduled this July 14 at the Philippine International Convention Center in Pasay. What’s your reaction that there were some who “grumbled” at the inclusion of industry veterans like you?

That’s understandable that people feel they have no chance if pitted against professionals. But that’s not really true. If you survey the finalists, there are only four established songwriters. To the credit of amateurs, there are overwhelmingly more of them who got in as finalists. I actually declined when I was invited to join, but they insisted. I also felt that the best way to support it is to participate. So I came out of retirement and tried to write an old-school piece. It was a welcome surprise that they considered the song. I also thought it was a perfect opportunity to launch ‘Gyud’ because we are interpreting that song in Tagalog on national TV. It’s Cebuano, but we’re singing it in Tagalog for the contest. Also, I read what Ryan Cayabyab [PhilPop’s head organizer] wrote, which was very well-said. He wrote that when we were young — I was 18 or 19 when I began joining competitions — we welcomed the thought that we were actually up against the world. I didn’t know a thing about the music industry. I recorded my entry inside a comfort room. There were even echoes and chirping of birds heard in my recording. But we welcomed the thought to be given the chance to, if I can use a parallel, box against Manny Pacquiao.

Some of the comments said you have nothing left to prove and should have given chance to the upstart songwriters…

That’s not how art works. Art is not something you can democratize. It’s not like hospitalization benefits or women’s rights that should be given to all. You have to have the discipline and tenacity in order to excel. You cannot excel by not allowing others to be a gauge against your excellence. You have to come face to face with what’s out there. You cannot decide to be an artist. Other artists will decide for you if you have it. If you cannot make it, you have to find another job. Otherwise, you will be disappointed if you follow the democratization tract. A musician is not decided by a raffle. Say, Noel Cabangon will have an album, we’ll have a raffle kung kaninong song ang kakantahin niya. That’s not how it works. They’re going to select, and the basis for selection is the durability and excellence of the song. It cannot be otherwise. You cannot democratize art, I’m sorry to say that. On the other hand, if you have a sense of humor, you can look at joining the contest as just for fun. P1 million (the grand prize for PhilPop) is not a big deal in the industry. I heard that people were saying, si Ryan Cayabyab nandadaya. These people have no idea how much Ryan earns for a song. It’s understandable how they feel. But the challenge is, if you are really determined, you are most welcome to join. I’d also like to ask them, how long do they work on a song? I get a lot of young people say, ‘Uy, mabilis ko lang natapos ito, mga 30 minutes lang, tapos na.’ Wow! You must be a genius because it takes me at least six months to finish one. Sometimes even two or three years to finish one. That’s how hard I work, especially that I wasn’t trained in music. Jingles I can do faster because these have deadlines. But if you talk about ‘Bahay’, that was six months. ‘Saranggola sa Ulan’ took two years. ‘Basurero ng Luneta’ was three and a half years. So you can understand if you can’t win if your work is done in 20 minutes. What I’m saying is, more than talent, this is about hard work. I’m not a genius, but if I work 16 hours a day, and you only put in 2 hours, chances are, I’m gonna be ahead of you. So my challenge to young people: Work very hard because the industry is falling, it’s in a disarray, there’s new media, music doesn’t sell anymore and people are no longer buying CDs.

What don’t you like about some of the OPM compositions nowadays?

Trite. It always talks about the same lines, same words…it’s tiring. It tires me to listen to lines like ‘Ang puso ko’ or ‘Ang damdamin ko.’ There are so many ways of saying these. If they resort to trite, there’s no chance a song will sustain. How does one overcome this? Read and look around! Otherwise, you have nothing to write about. Sumakay ka ng jeep, makinig ka anong pinag-uusapan ng ibang tao. If you listen to my entry in PhilPop, you would think it was written by a young person. Ang gaganda nung ibang entries! The only difference is, I think I sound like I’m the youngest, because I was daring to tackle the topic on the fallacies of our revolutions historically. Can you actually win a pop competition with that theme, which is a critique on our history, spanning the 1896 to the 1986 revolutions? Put that in a song, that’s very daring. Di ba ang kabataan ang pag-asa ng bayan, sila dapat di ba ang lumaban para magbago ang lipunan? Yet in this case, ako yung pinakamatanda, ako yung lumalaban. Don’t you think that’s strange?

(For those who wish to purchase a copy of the ‘GYUD’ album, contact HALAD Museum at 268-2579 or email [email protected].)