Enchanting evening

Music is a delightful sound that is, when it is real music, not the rapping and tapping like Edgar Alan Poe’s “The Raven” where we hear eerie sound of the “rapping and tapping at my chamber door” or the beating of drums like the Tutsis calling its braves to an erotic dance of courtship. 

William Congreve, the English Restoration playwright defined the effects of music in a wonderful way. He said, “Music has charms to soothe the savage heart, to soften rocks or bend a knotted knee.” Leopold Stokowski, conductor and founder of the American Symphony Orchestra has an advice: It is not necessary to understand music; it is only necessary to enjoy it.

It was indeed delightful, enjoyable evening to get out of the swirling world of the garbled sounds signifying nothing and find respite for one hour and forty-five minutes last Tuesday at the concert by the Society for Arts and Culture at the Agape House at the Carmelite Monastery.

Dubbed “An Evening of Music” the concert featured members of the society and guest performers headed by internationally known concert pianist, Leonor Kilayko, a Bacoleña.

The choices were varied with classical music of Tagalog, Hiligaynon, and Spanish and a dash of European (Chopin) that Kilayko played on the piano. The Spanish songs are familiar to us – “Granada” sang by the Society’s President, Ruth Pedregosa (soprano) and Luis D. Garrucho, Jr. (tenor).

Garrucho was a surprise to me because he is a BS in Architecture from La Consolacion College but is now an accomplished tenor with several tours in the US, Canada, Europe and Asia. Like in other tours, Garrucho sang solo the pre-war “Nasaan ka Irog.”

Their accompanist in the piano for this Spanish classic was Lota S. Gabiosa who completed her BS in Music in LCC. I knew her since we were in High School (our Class 1956) and she had been here and in the US teaching piano. She accompanied most of the performances last Tuesday.

The other Spanish song was “Sole Mio” sang by Pedregosa and Garrucho with Joedith Gepes (soprano), Carlos Estacio (tenor) Jefferson Decalle (tenor) with Lota and Cecilia B. Asico, marimbist.

Asico whom I knew when she was with the faculty of the Music Department of LCC as a pianist, is also an accomplished marimbist. She had a marimba solo on “Rhapsodic Fantasie” that evoked prolonged applause. She was accompanied on the piano by Mari Anne Infante.

Judge Emma labayen, elegant in her black gown played her favorite musical instrument, the harp, the musical instrument of the gods of Olympus. She rendered three classical pieces – “Sobre las olas”, “Curacha” and “Jalisco” accompanied by Anthony Pioquinto with a guitar. She is also the vice president of the host society.

The rendition of the Hiligaynon classic, “Dalawidaw” by Pedregosa and Garrucho was superb and generated prolonged applause. The arrangement was done by well-known Filipino musician, Antonio Molina and showed that our native songs can be sung with great impact.

The lyrics of “Dalawidaw” is a song inspired by a small bird, tinier than a sparrow and was written in November 1943 in the mountain hide-out by the late Binalbagan mayor and later Congressman Augurio Abeto to commemorate the establishment of the Philippine Commonwealth in 1934.

Though rendered as a balitaw and its first lines were love paeans, the entire 14 stanzas are a metaphor of the effort of the Japanese to seduce the Philippines to abandon the US during the war but she refused because of the “gugmang panganay” (first love) sealed in an encounter in a native hut.

The concert opened with the emotional “Bituing marikit” sang by Nicanor Abelardo followed by “Ikaw ang Mahal Ko” rendered by Pedregosa, Garrucho and Gabiosa.

Pedregosa, Garrucho and Gabiosa sang another famous song “Walay Angay (without compare)” which has roots in Iloilo. It is a sad song of the pain of unrequited love and a toast to loneliness. In times past, this song evoked memories of rejection and sang by people to tease those who lost the battle for maiden’s heart.

The finale is well known to those hooked to telenovela that presents the sad and memorable past but, as Filipino movies go, there is always a bucket of tears per episode. “Maalala mo Kaya’ is perhaps the only Filipino classic that remains popular because it was adopted as theme of a television show. All the performers sang the finale that included “Solo Mio”.

The Society presented a plaque of appreciation to Kilayko. Joining Pedregosa and Labayen in presenting the award was the secretary Vicky Roig Vega, wife of the late Fulgie, a pioneer in cultural presentations.

The Agape House was packed and their applause after each rendition shows that Bacolod has a large following of classical music and I congratulate and laud the society for an oasis of wonderful music in a cultural desert.*

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