As I write this, Jose Mari Chan’s latest album Love Letters & Other Souvenirs (Universal Records) is on my CD player, with immortal love songs like Windmills of Your Mind, My Foolish Heart, Love Letters, April Fools and a dozen others, bringing me back to yesteryear when love was new, the heart was young and lovers were not as calloused as some of them are now.
The album is vintage Jose Mari Chan, circa Nineteeners Era.
Aiza Seguerra’s new song, Just For a While, is a must-listen-to, so beautifully written and sung that it could surpass the record of her landmark song Pagdating ng Panahon. Listen to it and you’ll give it a nod.
This year, Joe Mari is celebrating his 40th anniversary as a recording artist. His first single, Afterglow, was released in 1967. Since then, he has been named one of The Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of the Philippines in 1974, and won awards for Best Albums and Best Records. Two of his 15 albums have sold unprecedented number of copies here and abroad, earning him several “platinum” records including two “diamonds.” His songs have been recorded by regional artists throughout Southeast Asia. His TV specials and concerts continue to be acclaimed. He remains a pillar of the music industry.
Love Letters & Other Souvenirs is released this week.
Funfare did a one-on-one with Joe Mari.
What took you so long to record a new album, six years to be exact?
“Actually I feel that an artist need not come out with an album every year, or it sometimes becomes clock work with very little ‘heart’ in it. This album has taken me two years and a half to put together, from the time I picked the first song to the mastering. To tell the truth, I’ve put in more time and effort into this album than any that I’ve ever done and I’m proud of it. There are 21 songs in this collection. I believe the consumer out there deserves no less. One does not commemorate 40 years in recording with a mediocre album. Previous to this, I did A Heart’s Journey, an all-original album. Though it won Album of the Year in the Awit Awards, radio failed to promote the songs sufficiently. I was a bit disheartened but that’s life. You win some, you lose some.
Why Aiza Seguerra’s Just For a While for the first single from the album?
“Aiza is one of my many featured artists. The artists, arrangers, musicians involved in the production of the CD read like a Who’s Who — Gerard Salonga, Rachelle Gerodias, Alan Smallwood, Martin Avila, Homer Flores, Agot Isidro, Archie Castillo, Samantha Chavez, Suzy Unas, my daughter Liza, my sons Jojo and Michael, Emy Munji, Rey Cristobal, Moy Ortiz, Kitchy Molina, Rudy Lozano, Rey Magtoto, Laine Laudico, etc. What I gave Aiza to sing is a beautiful contemporary Italian song that I wrote English lyrics to, a poignant love song of a young lady expressing a secret longing for a man she knows she can never have. As I wrote the words, the inspiration gushed out like a waterfall. I tried to place myself within a woman’s heart to find the right words to say like how I did it when I wrote the words to Please Be Careful With My Heart some years ago. Honesty in one’s art is essential for most artists. My executive producer at Universal Records, Kathleen Dy Go, feels that this song is not only radio friendly but one of the stronger, more commercial songs in the album. I really don’t mind it being the first single. It’s still my album after all and it’s my lyrics, too.”
In the last 40 years, you are known as an original singer-songwriter. This album is a departure. Why?
“Before I became a songwriter I was first and foremost a singer, listening to the songs of Frank Sinatra, Harry Belafonte, John Denver, Billy Joel, etc. My original songs have been influenced by the songs I grew up with. My style was developed from listening to Lennon-McCartney, Henry Mancini, Michel Legrand, Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers, Burt Bacharach, etc. The dominant pop music today is almost devoid of melody which is why Michael Bublé, Rod Stewart, Barry Manilow and Tony Bennett are all digging back into the past for musical ‘gems’ to re-interpret. As early as 10 years ago, I did my first album of ‘standards’ titled Souvenirs which continues to sell today, thank God, proving that the market is there, hungry for re-makes of old standards and even for half-forgotten songs. For Love Letters, I tried to stay away from the overdone and the oversung. I chose both rare standards as well as contemporary songs that are true ‘souvenirs’ from the times of my life. But the songwriter in me could not be suppressed. In Theme from Picnic, a good friend, Loryvi Valdes, and I wrote original lyrics to the 1956 melody and made a lovely counterpoint to Moonglow. And of course, you have my original words to Just For a While.”
The other songs in the album are just as memorable.
“My daughter Liza sings a David Friedman ballad, We Can Be Kind. My son Jose ‘Jojo’ Antonio does a multi-track vocal rendition of God Only Knows by the Beach Boys. Rachelle Gerodias and I made a duet of John Williams’ If I Were in Love. Samantha Chavez and I did Unexpected Song. My son Michael played piano for my rendition of Windmills of Your Mind. We featured Martin Avila at the piano for Mancini’s Anywhere The Heart Goes. Agot Isidro and I sang Our Love is Here To Stay. Then we have You And I, My Foolish Heart, April Fools, Love Letters, So In Love, Moment to Moment, It’s Not For Me to Say and a few other gems. All in all, 21 songs.”
What powers you to continue recording?
“I always say, there is no stronger incentive than success itself. I’m forever grateful that my records and concerts continue to be patronized. No record company will keep producing for an artist unless that artist remains bankable. That’s a blessing indeed, the fact that I’m able to sustain my music all these years. That’s what it’s all about. Sharing the joy that music creates.”
Any other project in the making?
“I’m glad you asked me that. Yes, I have a new all-original Christmas album in the making, a double-disc compilation and remix of my songs, and an exciting project with a famous American artist. Too early to reveal WHO. It’s something to watch out for.”
How’s your sugar business?
“Still very challenging. The sugar industry is at a crossroad. This year, I’m putting up a refinery to complement my raw sugar operations.”
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(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph)