The Cebuano music industry

I love music and the buff that I am I got from my father whose taste for standards are, I should say, classy. My collection spans across all genres from the pre-war era to the nineties. The oldest (around the thirties) that I have is Al Jolson who, my father recalls, is his father’s “morning ritual.” He gets up at five and plays “April Showers” on his phonograph and mimics Al with coffee in his hand.    

Like my father, I also have his old time favorites like Frank Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Johnny Mathis, Frankie Laine, Judy Garland and Doris Day plus a complete set of The Beatles which he doesn’t have. But of course, I am not that old to shun techno stuff like the Black Eyed Peas, Akon and even Justin Bieber and, believe it or not, girl’s stuff like Taylor Swift!

And if it looks to you that I only go for imported stuff, well excuse me. I do have OPM (Original Pinoy Music) classics from the Apo Hiking Society, Mike Hanopol and the Juan dela Cruz Band, The Minstrels, Hajji Alejandro, Nonoy Zuñiga, Martin Nievera, Leah Salonga, Kuh Ledesma and Odette Quesada. I think I basically have most of those popular Pinoy music and what they call “emo”. 

But one of the closest to my heart is Cebuano or Visayan music. Among the collections I have are from Susan Fuentes, Luz Loreto, Dulce Amor, Pilita Corales, and of course, a collection of Visayan music is never complete without Yoyoy Villame and Max Surban’s comical antics or what’s touted as novelty music. 

My OPM collection pales in comparison with the foreign labels but dwarfs my Cebuano compilations. I wouldn’t be surprised if music collectors would have more than three-quarters of their songs foreign while the rest are OPM and bits and pieces of Visayan recordings. Even your videoke song book returns the same rundown of songs in their list.   

These can only mean one thing. That Filipinos have that musicality running in our veins. We practically enjoy every rhyme and rhythm that goes to our eardrums and do not seem to care if they are native or foreign to us. Our liking for music has stood out that we are known for being the “Videoke Capital” of the world that it has become part of our entertainment menu during special occasions or when we feel like unwinding.

However, we have not maximized our musicality. The music industry in the Philippines is not so lucrative for many of our talented musicians. Filipinos have an insatiable craving for foreign artist and admittedly, I happen to be among those guilty. Because of this, many of our talents either go out as entertainers or fade in oblivion. I also dread (even by just imagining) the demise of the Cebuano music industry. I could not find anymore new faces, new songs or new recordings. And if there were any recordings that you can find, they are mostly dirty and loaded with sexual innuendos.

We need serious artists who can craft beautiful songs. Those who do not only show up every Cebu Pop Music but those who believe that they got what it takes to show what they got -- the likes of Pilita Corales, Dulce Amor, Sheryn Regis, Susan Fuentes and Luz Loreto.

In my recent chitchat with the King of Visayan novelty, Max Surban, I discovered that he is not only loved by the Cebuanos, he gets invites from people in Mindanao and still holds concerts and private shows here and there and out of the country as well. His secret is the simplicity and the love of poetry inherent of the Bisdaks that he never fails to put in his songs.

Cebuanos are hard to please and for a truly Cebuano music to succeed in the market, which is really a very niche market, artists should give their hearts out in every piece they create – the lines should rhyme and express the love and courtship that happen between couples if its a love song. I also notice that those that succeed are written mostly in the native tongue and I think this something a song artist should possess.

More than anything else, for any Cebuano composition to succeed, the Cebuanos should themselves support the work of a fellow Cebuano. One of the reasons why the music industry in Cebu is not so prolific is because we tend to forget our roots. The only time that we remember that we are Cebuanos is when we go out of the country and miss our danggit, chorizo, otap, rosquillos and so forth. 

I think it’s about time.

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