Four years ago, a group of seven Dominicans did just that. After watching a live band perform, two priests – founding fathers of the band so to speak – realized they could do the same.
"One by one, we gathered the members who we knew from our seminary days to have a knack for music," recalled Fr. Deng and Dr. Nap.
They named the band Inggo 1587, in honor of the founder of the Order of Preachers, Santo Domingo, and the year Domincan friars set foot in the Philippines.
The members of the band are flutist Fr. Didoy Abaño; keyboardist Fr. Jepoy Arsciwals; drummer Fr. Deng de la Cruz; vocalist and percussionist Fr. Nap Encarnacion; lead guitarist Fr. Auckhs Enjaynes; rhytm guitarist Fr. Joemar Sibug; and bass guitarist Fr. Dennis Maquiraya.
They seek to connect with the so called MTV generation through a medium that they understand and appreciate, music. Certainly, the youthful (read: makulit and playful) nature of the band members makes them adorable to young people.
Fr. Didoy is the University of Santo Tomas Museum director. Fr. Jepoy does parish work at San Lorenzo Ruiz Parish in Dagat-Dagatan, while Fr. Deng is the UST Center for Campus Ministry director. Fr. Nap Vocation is director of the Dominican Province of the Philippines. Fr. Dennis is director of aspirants at St. Albert’s Pre-Novitiate in Laguna. Fr. Auckhs heads Letran College’s financial affairs division, while Fr. Joemar, OP is chairman of the communication arts department of Letran College.
The band first performed publicly before members of their Dominican family. Priests, nuns, novices and seminarians went agog over Inggo 1587’s cover versions of popular tunes.
After this debut performance, invitations to perform, especially in schools, poured in. The band went on a campus tour of sorts, with the University of Santo Tomas and St. James Academy in Malabon topping the list. This tour coincided with the foundation day celebrations of the schools.
More than a year into these performances, Inggo 1587 did a TV special with Jamie Rivera for the Jubilee Year. Dubbed A Concert Retreat with Inggo 1587, it was a one hour special with music videos and stories of individuals, which were closely related to the message of their original songs.
"Later, after one and a half years of doing campus tours, we got our big break. We were offered to sing Narito Ako for the "Tanging Yaman" album by Star Records. Just as the film got good reviews, apparently so did the album. Thus began the inspiration to start the recording of our own album," related Fr. Joemar.
Yet, Inggo 1587 continued their performances in schools and parishes. They did concerts primarily to fund the construction of churches. Once, the band shared the stage with Gary Granada for the fundraiser of a parish church in Malabon. In another instance, Inggo 1587 performed with Candy Pangilinan to raise funds for the construction of a church in Daet, Camarines Norte. They also went to Gen. Santos City to perform and help build the parish church in that city. They even got invited by the Dominican Youth Movement of Taiwan to do a cultural dialogue through music in the cities of Taipei and Kaohsiung.
"We not only sing gospel, pop and love songs," claimed Dr. Auckhs. "We also sing our original songs." These include compositions by Fr. Jepoy, namely, If Only I Could, Touch Me Now, and I’ll Always Be There. Another cut in the album – Kailang Lamang – is a composition by seminarian Clifford Infante. These four songs may be considered the choice cuts of Inggo 1587’s self-titled debut album.
It took a while for Inggo 1587 to come up with an album because "we had very few original songs then," revealed Fr. Jepoy. "People started asking when we would start recording our songs. Two years into performing, we came up with 10 songs. We thought that we were ready to produce our first ever album."
Admittedly, however, members of the band are not professional musicians, so they sought the help of some friends in the recording industry to collaborate with them in recording the live band feel that they wanted. These friends helped them in the musical and vocal arrangements as well.
Indeed, Inggo 1587’s repertoire is a happy mix of gospel, pop, R&B, OPM and original compositions. But the secular songs have to be inspirational and with a positive message, since in between these and other songs, they share their experiences that never fail to inspire and touch the hearts of their audience.
"The whole idea of Inggo 1587 is to help build the Church," admitted Fr. Joemar. "And that means building the edifice as well as the community of faithful. Part of the proceeds of the sales of the album will also be for the support of the education of our seminarians. In this way we also help in the formation of future church leaders."
Evangelization through music is Inggo 1587’s gig.
Inggo 1587, The Album, which contains 10 original songs, is produced by OPMusik, the very own label of the Dominican Province of the Philippines and is distributed by AEAPSI (Association for the Educational Assistance of Poor Seminarians, Inc.). Inggo 1587 also supports the anti-piracy campaign of the local recording industry.
Warning: Unauthorized duplication of this recording is a sin!