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Monday, December 13, 2004
Costanilla: Nitoy’s ‘Usahay’
By Sam Costanilla
spotlight
SONG. Today, I am yielding my space to a letter from lawyer Reynoso Belarmino who used to work for the National Labor Relations Commission regional office. He is a nephew of Juanito Gonzales Angus, a.k.a. Nitoy Gonzales, who composed the immortal Cebuano song Usahay. Nitoy was a true-blue Tudelanhon. I am accommodating Belarmino’s highly informative letter if only to give all of us the chance to know more about the song and its composer. His letter yields a lot of facts about the beautiful song and its author that we Cebuanos ought to know.
ORIGINAL. Usahay was composed on Sept. 1, 1961 as reflected in the musical score sheet, a photocopy of which Belarmino gave me. It has a Tagalog version titled Napangarap Kita. Singer Leni Alano, a member of the famed Bayanihan Dance Troupe, originally recorded Usahay. When Alano informed Nitoy of the new version of the song done by Jessie Saclo for Susan Fuentes in 1979, the composer decided not to take any legal action, stressing that Saclo’s act wouldn’t make him rich, anyway. It should be noted that Gonzales spent over 20 years of his life in the US and his absence must have affected the original lyrics of Usahay.
MUSICIAN. Nitoy was the rondalla maestro of the famed Bayanihan Dance Troupe under the Bayanihan Philippine Dance Company. The fifth of seven children, he was born on Oct. 20, 1911 to Igmedio Angus and Candelaria Gonzales of Tudela, Camotes. Shortly before World War II, Nitoy joined his older brother Porferio in Manila after working with his other brother Condrado in an orchestra aboard a ship plying between Cebu and Manila. Nitoy played the octavina in accompanying the world famous Bayanihan dancers in their performances.
TOURS. Nitoy was with the Bayanihan since the dance troupe’s first appearance abroad, specifically in the World Exposition in Brussels, Belgium, in 1957. He was also with the troupe when it toured Seattle, Washington, in 1962 during the World Fair. From February to June 1964, Nitoy covered a 60-city transcontinental tour of the US and did a three-week season at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center. Despite his massive exposure to foreign culture and tradition, Nitoy’s love for Philippine music remained steadfast as revealed in his compositions aside from Usahay. And he wrote two more Cebuano songs that were never recorded – Kanunay and Busay. The latter depicts the place where he was born. Whenever he visited Cebu, Nitoy always visited another stalwart in music, Lucia Balbuena, who was a music supervisor of the then Ministry of Education here. He was her consultant when she studied music in Manila and acknowledged Nitoy as one of the Cebuano “greats” in music.
THANKS. My gratitude goes to Belarmino for the highly informative letter about Nitoy and Usahay. Relatives of other Cebuano songwriters are also urged to imitate Belarmino’s act, especially if they feel that works done by these composers have not been given due recognition or simply acknowledged as “author unknown” or “public domain.”
SNUB. Is it true that this local beauty title-holder has been snubbing invitations of official public functions? Organizers of different occasions are reportedly complaining that while she accepts their invitations, she does not show up and does not even inform them of her inability to honor their invitations. (Email samcost(at)yahoo(dot)com or text 0916-3483333.)
(December 13, 2004 issue)
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