Noel inspires Filipinos to think and act

MANILA, Philippines - Have you ever watched a singer perform live that got you so moved that you don’t want to let him go, and you just want to listen to him forever? Have you ever listened to an artist and deeply felt through his songs what he was saying straight from his heart? This is exactly what I experienced while watching Noel Cabangon at the Conspiracy Bar on a Wednesday night, his regular gig. I just could not have enough of him that I sought him out at My Brother’s Mustache, on his special show, two nights after.

At the Conspiracy Bar along Visayas Avenue, the venue was already bursting at the seams before his timeslot at 9 p.m. that many had to be rejected. He slipped in without pomp and was not dressed in what we have preconceived as a performer’s attire. In ordinary black T-shirt and jeans, heck, he looked like a production assistant preparing the stage for the real singer. Self-conscious and painfully shy, he pleaded with the audience not to stare at him as he himself set up the microphones he was about to use.

And yet, when he was about to start, he was able to command complete attention. People became very quiet as if not one among us wanted to miss a single note of his. When he started strumming his guitar and then singing his songs so beautifully, I was reminded of the ’70s song that went “strumming my pain with his fingers... singing my life with his words...” And I thought, is this guy for real? He did not even seem to be aware that he was an amazing performer. As the show went on, he seemed to me like a cult leader before a gathering of his faithful where everyone would follow whatever he would say or ask them to do.

Most of those in the audience, young and mostly students from UP Diliman, knew his songs by heart, whether his original patriotic and pro-environment hits, Pana-panahon, Tao, Bayani Ng Bayan, Ako’y Isang Mabuting Pilipino, or his repertoire of standards like James Taylor’s You’ve Got a Friend, the Beatles’ Here, There and Everywhere and old-time Filipino favorites like Hotdog’s Manila, Manila, Florante’s Ako’y Isang Pinoy and Sharon Cuneta’s Kahit Maputi Na Ang Buhok Ko. As he started his rendition of ’Di Na Natuto, I felt the piercing pain that went with the message of the song. A tear actually fell.

Noel is an enigma in this day and age. How can you explain someone so simple, so humble, so ordinary looking and “so not-so-young” to have such a great impact on his audience? For Pete’s sakes, he does not even look at the audience and had his eyes closed about 85 percent of the time. Even Pres. Noynoy Aquino must be a fan considering the big role that Noel was given during his Luneta inauguration!

Aside from his simplicity and humility that endear him to his admirers, I surmise that the fascination over Noel came about with the rekindling of the desire to do something for our country. Noel personifies the yearning of every Filipino for positive change, who deeply cares for his country, and who is still hopeful that someday the Philippines will be a much better place to live in.

A public high-school graduate of Quezon City High School and a product of choirs at the Sacred Heart Parish in Kamuning, he has no college degree to boast of (he only took some units at the U.P. College of Music), but Noel, for me, is one of the most intelligent singers in the country today. Proudly an Ilocano, he writes a column for Abante, and soft-spoken that he is, fights for and stands up for what he believes in  environmental protection, freedom from debt, protection of Filipino singers and composers and freedom of expression. He is currently the president of FILSCAP, is active with PETA and is the VP External of OPM. He is also a Rotarian from District 3780 whom I have bumped into in several fundraising events including those in aid of artists in need.

For those like me who have become loyal fans of Noel, what better news is there than finding out that he has a new album to his name, titled Panaginip, now topping OPM charts. Eleven of the songs in this album are his original compositions and it also has four covers, which include the classic Tayo’y Mga Pinoy of the group Banyuhay.

Like in his original composition Panaginip, Noel has many dreams for this country. With more and more people learning from his songs, his writings and his advocacies, Noel is surely moving us to make these dreams for the Philippines and the Filipino people a reality.       

(E-mail author at [email protected] or text 0927-5000833).