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Saturday, July 29, 2006
Espina: Jude's pop with taste
By Cattski Espina
Til the Cat lady sings
I’m going to take a break from writing about bands. I realized that there’s a side of the entire music scene I haven’t really explored and it deserves my full attention. Turns out, Cebu is indeed a gold mine of talents. And I’m glad I made an effort to dig further because I have found a true treasure that’s glowing with so much promise. Cebu has another reason to be proud.
As of this writing, I’m listening to the musical work of song writer and music producer Jude Gitamondoc. I met him in a songwriting workshop I attended two months ago, and in that small gathering of songwriters, I singled him out as special. For one, the lecturer was always mentioning him for his achievement of getting some of his songs published under a reputable publishing company (Genesis Publishing). And finally, that five of these songs are included in Gary Valenciano’s latest album Relevance under Universal Records.
I don’t dig pop music as much as other genres, but I am aware of Gary V’s stature in the music industry. And to have five songs by a Cebuano songwriter included in his album is a huge triumph for Cebu music. Just this week, I was told that Regal Films will be using one his Gary V. songs In Another Lifetime as the theme song for the movie Eternity starring Dingdong Dantes and Iza Calzado scheduled to be released this August. Naturally, this is a dream come true for Jude and this is only the start.
Looking back, Jude’s musical journey is a little different from most musicians I know. He started writing songs in his early years in the seminary where he was always tasked to provide for their musical needs and to write songs mostly for liturgy purposes. This was how he developed his love for song writing.
In his efforts to broaden his musical knowledge, he enrolled in the UP College of Music in Diliman where he stayed for a year.
It was there that he realized he was not up for the avant-gardism that was encouraged there. He wasn’t so interested in musical experimentation or theoretic study. He only wanted to write songs and become a legitimate popular music composer like Trina Belamide and Jimmy Borja.
To pursue his song writing career, Jude joined quite a number of song writing competitions, one of which is the Cebu Pop Music Competition, where he always makes it as a finalist. This is the reason why he has made a name for himself in Cebu’s song writing community. Competitions became an initial venue for his work while he accepted projects like arranging themes for school events or weddings and even commercial jingles on the side.
Jude is also an officially member of Katha Organization of Filipino Composers. He says that one of the privileges of being a Katha member is to receive regular updates on activities of the national song writing circle as well as information on the artists who are taking in submissions. This was how he knew that Gary V. was shopping for songs. He was just really trying his luck, submitting around twenty songs, and didn’t expect that five would make it to the track list. Jude’s ‘strike anywhere’ attitude finally paid off.
Currently, he’s busy with the upcoming Raki Vega album, a project he’s co-producing with Homer Cang. He says he’s excited about this because it will show a side of Raki Vega that Cebu has not seen before. He takes pride of the current line-up of seven songs which their production team will soon submit to major labels. I believe that with the broad appeal of Jude’s songs and Raki’s world-class singing, this collaboration will soon find a major label that’s willing to invest on their work.
As Jude would say, he is a hopeless romantic and it shows in all the five songs in the Gary V album. In a way, this has given Mr. Pure Energy a new twist – he’s more youthful, less serious and cool. Though a romantic appeal in most ballads and love songs are common, Jude’s songwriting is loaded with substance and, in my own opinion; his music’s got class only a Cebuano can pull off. I would call it pop with taste.
With the advent of rock groups and indie artists writing their own songs and appealing only to niche markets, industry professionals are constantly looking for musical pieces that can transcend to the widest group. And I can see a very bright future for Jude because I am certain he has these songs. If not laid out yet, these songs are in his heart waiting to explode. Like I said, this is just the beginning and we have yet to see what he can give to the world of music.
(A new recording studio, HAGIAZO AUDIO - opens today! Rm. 210, 18 Cherry Court Gen. Maxilom Ave. Cebu City/ email me cattskiespina@yahoo.com)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (July 29, 2006 issue)
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