Friday, March 16, 2007 Serna: Matud nila.. By Roger Serna Sounds & Images
LATE last month, an invitation to a first-of-its-kind event came my way, something that aroused my curiosity and one which was hard to refuse. That invitation was for Halad – Sugbuanong Kanta held at the Casino Espanol de Cebu.
It was the laudable brainchild of former congressman and educator, Hon. Jose ‘Dodong’ Gullas, and it was an awards night-cum-tribute concert which gave posthumous tribute to the composer of the immortal ditty Matud Nila in the person of the late Ben Zubiri and the composer and lyricist of the Christmas song Kasadya Ning Taknaa, Vicente Rubi and Mariano Vestil, respectively.
Needless to say, the said songs had given much pride to Cebuanos and Visayans in general and are considered lasting and incalculable contributions to Cebuano arts in music.
Initially, Hon. Gullas intended to give the awards to two Cebuana singers but another group beat him to it (Pilita Corrales and Dulce—ed.), so he changed plans at midstream and came up with the Halad – Sugbuanong Kanta instead which he plans to give every two years.
Relatives of the awardees received the plaque and cash awards. Who will be the next awardees? Let’s wait and see.
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In the said tribute concert the University of the Visayas Chorale gave life to the compositions and also performed other numbers with excellent harmony and colorful choreography. Other performers were former Search for Star In A Million finalist Ryan Racal, two visually-challenged children from the Mandaue City Central School and Genevieve Abuloc who performed Bakho sa Anghel, the grand prize winning song of the 2007 Cebu Popular Music Festival.
Ironically, despite its being the grand prize winner, that was the first time that I heard the song (I skipped the grand finals during the Pista Senyor festivities). That is in contrast to the song Lihok Kabataan, a finalist in this year’s songwriting tilt, which enjoys constant airplay in some radio stations both AM and FM thus living up to its reputation of being the Texters’ Choice awardee in the said songfest.
Why has Bakho sa Anghel and the other two songs in the top three circle not enjoyed the patronage of Cebuano music lovers, a fate also suffered by its predecessors for quite a number of years now?
I can’t say the songs are not radio friendly or whatever. Could it be the theme? Are they too heavy and serious for music lovers who tune in to their radio sets precisely to relax and be entertained?
This brings us back to one of the issues I raised earlier about the need for the songwriting festival to ‘revisit the rationale of the contest’ which I heard were the words of the chairperson and father of the songfest himself, Cong. Eddie Gullas.
I hope the revisiting will be soon.
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Speaking of songs that help uplift the spirit of listeners, Lani Misalucha’s newly released, self-titled album has got what it takes to be called listener friendly.
It contains revivals (that’s the vogue these days, anyway), namely: Very Special Love, I Live For Your Love, These Dreams, Love Me Again, Come In From The Rain, Someone In The Dark, Never Knew Love Like This Before, A Certain Sadness, All In Love Is Fair, Hold Me, Always and Forever, Never My Love, I Just Wanna Stop and Christmas Won’t Be The Same Without You, all 14 of them.
It carries the Universal Records label.
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I thought getting booed at the Moment of Truth boxing match at the Cebu City Sports Center last month was enough to bring back Manny Pacquiao to his right senses and give up his plan to branch out to politics.
I was proven wrong as recent news said that he’s really bent on running for congressman. Well, he’s entitled to his own entertainment, or so they say. Will the people of the congressional district where he intends to run give their support like the one they gave him in his boxing stints?
