The sweet sound of Cebuano music

MANILA, Philippines - Mention Cebu and several things easily come to mind. There’s the Sinulog Festival, which happens every third weekend of January, the beaches, the dried mangoes and the famous lechon, its guitar-making industry, and the list goes on. Of course, Cebu is oft-described as home to great musical talents. 

There are aggressive efforts to encourage renewed appreciation if not budding interest in Cebuano music, with this island-province’s newest cultural attraction, the Halad Museum — dubbed as the Visayan music museum and the first-of-its-kind in the country — taking up the cudgels in preserving both “immortalized and not duly recognized” Cebuano composers and their works, in the most tangible platform. 

Halad Museum is the brainchild of Dr. Jose R. Gullas, an educator (his parents founded Cebu’s first university, the University of the Visayas), a former congressman and a prominent figure in Cebu journalism. Side by side with the museum is an award-giving event-cum-concert that’s mounted every two years since 2008. Their last one at the Waterfront became one of the most-attended concerts in Cebu that year. Some of the posthumously honored were composers Ben Zubiri (Matud Nila), Maning Velez (Sa Kabukiran) and Minggoy Lopez (Rosas Pandan). Visayan divas Pilita Corrales and Dulce were previously recognized. 

All these initiatives to keep the legacy of Cebuano composers and performers alive started to take shape immediately after Gullas heard on the radio that Cebuano songwriter Vicente Rubi wasn’t acknowledged as the composer of the beloved Visayan carol Kasadya Ning Taknaa, which spawned the Tagalog version Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit. Gullas personally knew Rubi, who himself didn’t live long enough to witness the day when the court ruled in his favor after fighting long and hard for the copyright of the Christmas carol.

The STAR was exclusively invited to Halad’s latest event titled, Gratis Et Amore, at the Radisson Blu Hotel recently. The line-up of Halad awardees included Susan Fuentes, a popular recording artist in the ‘70s and the ‘80s, who earned the title “Queen of Visayan Songs,” having sung not just in Cebuano but also Boholano and Ilonggo. She recorded Tagalog songs, too, best known of which was the original version of Miss Kita Kung Christmas (subsequent revivals included that of Sharon Cuneta’s) that continues to enjoy radio airplay every Yuletide season.   

Unfortunately, Fuentes was indisposed (she’s bravely battling a kidney illness) and couldn’t personally receive the award. Nevertheless, it provided her the much-needed inspiration what with the struggles she’s been through after receding from the limelight in the early ‘90s.

Artists on the rise or still at their peak can certainly learn a lesson or two from Fuentes’ life story. In an interview, Fuentes candidly told this writer that she once lived in excess in her heyday (“What a different life I had when I had money. I lived like a queen”). She eventually lost herself and status to an abusive lifestyle, compounded by personal woes — the worst being estranged with her two children. But it was when she hit rock bottom that she found her faith. “I’m actually living through the grace of God,” Fuentes said. 

In 2012, friends from the music biz, led by Dulce, held a benefit concert for Fuentes to help settle her mounting bills after being confined at the National Kidney Institute (an episode that nearly drained her will to live). It was supported by several OPM heavyweights like Jose Mari Chan who asked her to autograph his Susan Fuentes LP collection. She received over P100,000 from the proceeds. She also received another gift: She finally reconnected with her now adult children. In a recorded message, she thanked Gullas and her Cebuano fans for not forgetting her and “to God for not taking away my voice.” Although a little hoarse, she sang lines from Usahay, another Visayan anthem, with her signature sultry stylings.  

Another 2012 awardee was Msgr. Rudy Villanueva, whom STAR contributor Pablo A. Tariman called the “unsung vanguard of Cebu music” in an article. His Halad award should help change that. He’s regarded a liturgical music icon, heavily influencing Cebuano Masses in Visayas and Mindanao with his choral compositions, musical dramas and a three-movement piece for the pipe organ.

After his ordination in 1963, Villanueva took up his graduate studies in English Literature at the University of Sto. Tomas. He received a scholarship from Serra International, which led to his BM in Piano and Masters in Music Composition at the State University of Minnesota. Famous US balladeer Barry Manilow was a classmate.

Villanueva is also a published author (known as Renato E. Madrid in literary circles) with such works as Southern Harvest (1996), Devil Wings (1997) and Mass for the Death of an Enemy (2000). He has a National Book Award from the Manila Critics Circle and numerous Palancas. He taught at Silliman University in Dumaguete City and at the University of San Carlos in Cebu. He was also a scholar of Gullas’ mother, Inday Pining, in the seminary. 

Former Cebu Archbishop Ricardo Cardinal Vidal was also surprised with a special recognition; he’s widely credited as the driving force of efforts since the ‘80s to have the Visayan missionary Pedro Calungsod canonized as second Filipino saint at the Vatican last October. Vidal said that 400 nominees from the world-over were submitted, but Pope Benedict XVI chose Pedro Calungsod.

Halad: Gratis Et Amore served as the homecoming concert of the University of the Visayas Chorale, another pet project of Gullas, who sang at the last day of the Triduum Mass for the canonization and the special luncheon for dignitaries and bishops in Rome. While it was obviously no joke to send “32 warm bodies to Rome,” it was a dream come true for Gullas and his wife Nena, the choir’s manager. Conducted by former Philippine Madrigal Anna Piquero, the choir’s Vatican trip also coincided with its first and successful participation in some of Europe’s most prestigious choir contests. The UV Chorale received three Gold Diplomas and the special award for the “Highest Pointer in a Category” at the Rimini International Competition in Italy.

The 2012 Halad almost didn’t push through last month because of a family tragedy. “It’s really about giving thanks and giving back to people who have touched my life in moments of joy and also in time of pain for the untimely passing of my grandson,” explained Gullas who lost his grandson late last year in a fieldtrip accident that even hit national headlines. But music, as they say, has the power to heal.

Meanwhile, to know more about the Cebuano music, check out the Halad Museum that stands at the corner of V. Gullas and Jakosalem Sts. Interactive and hip, the museum mainly spotlights well-written Cebuano music produced during the  period of the 20th century (‘40s to the ‘70s)  labeled by heritage experts as the Golden Age of Cebuano Music.

While visitors, especially balikbayan, come here for a dose of nostalgia, as the music harks back to a time when the pace was gentler, tartanillas ruled the streets and harana was the most potent method of courtship, the museum is made attractive to the youth through sound stations for digitized recordings of the songs interpreted by the best Cebuano voices. There’s even a high-tech phonograph sourced from Europe (placed beside its more senior predecessor) so guests can play an LP record — that’s short for “long-playing” for the info of the digital-download generation — of their choice.

Other memorabilia on display include instruments, lyric sheets, photographs and other personal effects such as gowns of Pilipinas Got Talent judge Pilita during memorable performances as “Asia’s Queen of Song”; the piano used by Zubiri, a popular pre-and post-war entertainer who topbilled the first Visayan talking movie, to create the sweet, haunting love song Matud Nila; the original music sheet of Velez’s Sa Kabukiran, which was also popularized by his daughter, actress Lilian Velez.