MUSIC lives in all of us, but maybe we can find more musicians in La Trinidad than anywhere else in the country. A quick survey reveals that half of those performing in Baguio’s pubs and restos are from La Trinity, with maybe a quarter of them residing near the river Balili. The numbers are there, really: six music recording studios, four music schools/shops, an international high school choir champion, more than a hundred bands, and thousands who can at least play the guitar. Last Saturday, La Trinidad’s talent and love for music was showcased anew during the 3rd La Trinidad Original Music contest.
Among the ten participating talented bands of the said Musical Contest; E n’ D Band (1st), Milk and Chocolate Band (2nd), and Clazzmates Band(3rd), won the top spots giving them the opportunity to record their original song at the Old House Music Studio. Their winning pieces featured experiences and memories of living in La Trinidad as well as popular tourist spots and products of the town. The competition aims to nurture the talents and skills of the young La Trinidad Musicians, as well as to encourage them to create their original songs.
This annual event has produced beautiful compositions like: “Valley of Colors”, “Kala”, “Where I Belong”, and many more. These kinds of activities must have also inspired musicians like Jaymoh Javier who came up with a La Trinidad tribute song called “Valle de La Trinidad” which is currently being played by local radio stations.
La Trinidad has always been home for Cordillera Musical legends, like Raul Beray, Conrad Marzan, Thomas Chamos, Geoffey Carantes, Paul Cuyopan, and many more soulful musicians who were lucky enough to have performed as stars during the folkhouse era. At present, La Trinidad’s musical competitions have produced promising young talents who went to be featured in mainstream shows; Gayle Torrado who made it to ABS-CBN’s Tawag ng Tanghalan, and Everly Quela, Voice of Cordillera 2019 Champion, who also contended in TNT/ M.O.R., among other talented singers of La Trinidad.
Of course, recently, the Cordillera Regional Science High School Glee Club of La Trinidad, under the guidance of LT Musician Jayson Osong, won three golds in an international choral competition in Bali, Indonesia. So, am I about to succeed in convincing you that “the Valley” is really a home of Musicality?
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Last Sunday’s nap is special to me. It was my father’s 8th death anniversary and I kind of expected that he would visit me in my dreams somehow. It has always been that way since he died. After we buried him in Montanosa and we were about to drive home to La Trinity, I took an afternoon nap in his bed at their old family house. In my dream, he was assisting all of us in a convoy telling us that we can all go home, that it is now okay to go home. I was calling him to join us but he just stared at us. Then I woke up drenched in tears shouting “Papa!”
I dream of him frequently since then – the scene is always about riding in a vehicle together, or touring...the destination is always unclear, hazy. In the last three years, the dreams of him got rarer. But last Sunday, it was again another tour going to some mosaic of places from my childhood. “Entan ah?” he beckoned to me. Just like most of my dreams with him, I told him to wait for me as I went to fix some things, or get something that I forgot.
I always wake up after that, always leaving him hanging, or waiting. I imagine that when it will be my time, hopefully at 77, that I can finally join him in that place where he wanted me to see.