Vaya Con Dios, Kiko!

The Free Man from Manila whose body served as a canvas of the three stars and the one sun changing patterns within his kaleidoscope world, to literally express his passion for the Filipino pride, had finally taken his swan song.

As an accomplished artist, Francis Magalona left behind that indelible legacy of having espoused love of country through his genius in “spoken music”, breaking grounds for the brown man’s rhythmic poetry to make it to mainstream.

This piece goes deeper than just being an avid fan of Kiko. Rewind to circa 1984: my gang in grade school gathered at a classmate’s house for the “betamax screening of youth-oriented flick Bagets 2” where showbiz newbie Kiko was introduced in a cast of teenyboppers and heartthrobs.

Since he was very young-looking, he blended well with the cast of Bagets 1 and the pack of Ninja Kids despite being 20 already. And we all gushed over him. As Bagets is a phenomenon of local filmdom in the 80s, lead stars served as our idols back then. For his good looks, for his wits, we had Kiko above the rest to look up to. Not yet an established rapper that time, but a breakdancer who already gave a hint as to how far he can go with things - most especially on subjects of relevance.  

Call it infatuation, but that’s how I felt it when I began citing his dance and hosting skills in most of my informal themes (it’s the old-fashioned way of writing logs) as I wove stories on how I had admired his good looks, his enthusiasm, his intelligence, his professionalism, his depth - very rare among Pinoy actors.  

Slowly the admiration went past what’s surface, after he started articulating on socio-political matters. The life he blew to most of his compositions has beautifully beaten for nation-building; of citizenship, of civic-mindedness arranged in a manner that exploited the sentimentality typical of the third-world brown man. Kiko then transpired into “the icon” for most of us youth in the 90s in terms of love of country and everything indigenous – people and music. He was among few performers who collaborated enthusiastically with progressive rock artists to exalt patriotism in his songs. That it’s very much alright to be Pinoy!

Even as an entrepreneur, he had the national emblem for inspiration in his designs for his clothing line, FrancisM Clothing Co.

Most of all, his music helped me bond with my brother 11 years my junior. On cold summer nights, in our hut, up there in the mist-shrouded mountain barangay of Lutopan, once when our worlds were so much younger, we would sing a capella - Every color and every hue/Is represented by me and you/Take a slide on the slope/Take a look in the kaleidoscope/Spinnin’ round, make it twirl/In this kaleidoscope world.

By chances that occur randomly in our universe, I found my way to this paper the same way his Freeman albums found me and inspired me all the more to appreciate freedom. It has always been cool to be freeman. Free from mental slavery; free to ramble with the heart’s unlimited poetry; to bask in the light of the three stars and the one sun; to act, talk, feel, and think Filipino…

Some are great/and some are few/Others lie while some tell the truth/Some say poems and some do sing/Others sing through their guitar strings/Some know it all while some act dumb/Let the bassline strum to the bang of the drum/Some can swim while some will sink/And some will find their minds and think/Others walk while others run/You can’t talk peace and have a gun/Some are hurt and start to cry/Don’t ask me how don’t ask me why/ Some are friends and some are foes/Some have some while some have most. 

…to make the most of the images of the creative, innovative, warm, loving Pinoy we have shown to the world. I have consistently written that we artists and performers have to be of significance because we have the ability to influence an average of 3,000 people a day with our songs, with our poems, with our short stories, our dances, our novels, our plays, our films.

Some are pure and some half-bred/some are sober and some are wasted/Some are rich because of fate/And some are poor with no food on their plate/Some stand out while others blend/Some are fat and stout while some are thin/Some are friends and some are foes/Some have some while some have most.

The master rapper wraps up to meet his Master. He will be tremendously missed for bushwhacking the path to a happy battle. As for now, vaya con Dios, Kiko! So many faces, so many races/Different voices, different choices/Some are mad while others laugh/Some live alone with no better half/Others grieve while others curse/And others mourn behind (my!) big black hearse.

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Check Francis M.’s medical blogumentary on www.happybattle.net. Happy Battle is his 1995 album he collaborated with his band Hardware Syndrome.