Freeman Cebu Entertainment

The Imperfect Gift

May 10, 2010 | 12:00am

Boholano Chris Vincent Galapin Sayson or “Ongkii” started writing songs when he was in third year college. He studied nursing at the Cebu Doctors University and graduated in 2008.

He was then a rhythm guitarist/vocalist of a band named Professional Dishwashers, which later on merged with another band— Misnomer—after college. Currently, the group is called the Undercover Grasshoppers.

They were able to release their first single “Frantic Static” early December of last year, and that Ongkii is planning to do a side project of his songs inspired by his musical roots—The Beatles, The Ventures, Bob Dylan, Led Zep, U2, The Corrs, Bob Marley, Eric Clapton, Yano, E-heads, among others.

He first exhibited interest in poetry, music and visual arts in high school (at the Blessed Trinity College in Talibon) and became associate editor and artist/cartoonist of the school paper.

Currently, he is a member of the ArtistKO (Artists and Musicians Marketing Cooperative) that regularly plays at The Outpost in Lahug. He also credits his membership to the Christian Voices Choir of the Redemptorist Church here in Cebu City. “The choir taught me a lot about dynamics. So, I owe it all to them.”

A sample of his works is “The Imperfect Gift” wherein he started with a psychedelic tune from the piano. Then the lyrics came in as he was playing that tune.

“That's how I write lyrics. I jive with the mood of the melody. I try to play it with the guitar. It sounds more solemn so I like it more, but I think it would sound far better if the guitar and the piano will be played together,” says Ongkii.

With “The Imperfect Gift,” the tempo is slow, enough to make the audience feel the emotion. Ongkii uses dynamics to emphasize a thought from the song, like in the line "everything's a gift, don't waste it.”

“I use forceful guitar strum on the beginning part, then a subtle strum on the ‘don't waste it’ part,” he explains the technicalities of his composition. “On the bridge, I stop playing the guitar, and make use of it as a percussion by tapping on the pick guard part, then I go chanting, using a falsetto voice with occasional single strum and continued tapping until reaching the line ‘everything's a gift...’ where I resume to regular strumming,” he stressed.

Finally, he ended the song by repeating the line “don't waste it” with a fading effect to give the feel of somebody disappearing. “Or a fading dream,” as he puts it.

Ongkii explains that he used the principle of repetition when he wrote “The Imperfect Gift,” though he only noticed that he used the technique after he was done writing the lyrics.

“I use rhyming on most of my songs but with this, I kinda just said what I wanted to say,” he says. “Also when I write my songs, I’m not so particular with the words I use. I don't use words which I haven't fully understood. I always go for honesty. I don't wanna sound so technical. I want them to read me ,” he adds.

Talking about the meaning of the song, the title and the lyrics speak for itself. Ongkii points out that it’s actually a result of some soul-searching he did when he went home to Bohol one time.

“I was really miserable, there were so much ‘WHYs’ in my head, I can hardly sleep. Then, I don’t know, an angel must have whispered to my ears. I came to realize that the world would be boring if everything was already doing good for you. So I came up with a ‘how’ question,” he says.

“How can you learn, if everything has already been figured out?”

The Imperfect Gift

Words and music by Ongkii Sayson

If the universe was perfect

Then you won't have to be alone anymore

If the universe was perfect

Then you won't have to weep or cry anymore

Everything's a gift, don't waste it

If the universe was perfect

Then you don't have to feel so low anymore

And if the universe was perfect

Then you don't have to feel the pain anymore, no more