With a smile

Curtains close. Kisses stop. Love stories end.

Indeed, some things in life are fleeting and ephemeral. That’s just the way it is. There’s even an old adage that says all good things come to an end.

Once in a while, however, life surprises us with something so great that it lingers and lives on in our hearts. Forever.

Such is the music of the legendary rock band Eraserheads, the kind that resonated – and continues to resonate – with generations and generations of Filipinos. Their songs were always someone's anthem and gospel truth; inspiration or palliative; a curse even but always an impetus to move and act.

It’s no surprise therefore that on Tuesday, Aug. 20, members of the band – Marcus Adoro, Ely Buendia, Raimund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala – returned to their Alma Mater, the University of the Philippines, to receive the prestigious Gawad Oblation Award, the highest distinction that the university can bestow.

Says UP president Angelo Jimenez in his welcome remarks: “The Gawad Oblation is a symbol of our deep gratitude for that extraordinary service rendered with or in our name. In the name of UP.”

It’s no exaggeration, he adds, that the Eraserheads “are a pivotal force in the history of original Pilipino music.”

“The Eraserheads helped define the music, memories and identity of a generation, no less.”

They also humanized a generation during a very very divisive period in the history of our country by asserting individuality, president Jimenez also says.

For the band members who all studied in UP Diliman, it was a full circle moment of sorts. The university, they said, was the foundation for their voice, art and music.

In their acceptance speeches, the Eraserheads said it was in UP where they tasted and experienced real freedom. “Kalayaan pumili at maghayag, kalayaan sundin at kalayaan pakingan ang sariling himig,” said Marcus.

Raimund thanked his parents who supported him even if he didn’t get to bring home a diploma, drawing laughter from the crowd. Buddy, too, thanked those who supported the band throughout their journey.

Ely recalled how music saved him from a sure failing grade in Spanish. “Singko,” says the Eheads vocalist in an exaggerated Spanish accent, drawing more laughter from the crowd.

“I begged my professor for a passing grade. And he asked me: Do you have anything that would make me consider passing you? Anything at all?

Ely told his professor:

Well I can write a song and so I gave him a demo cassette of Pare ko and prayed.

The next day, to his pleasant surprise, his professor in Spanish told him that he passed.

This experience taught Ely two things.

“One is that my professor could understand Tagalog and that two, from that point on, that music can get me through anything in life.”

A year later in Kalayaan, Ely found three people who also had his struggles and shared his dream.

The rest, as they say, is history.

For the crowd that descended into the glittering Executive House for the Gawad Oblation awarding ceremony, it was a great honor and delight to bear witness to such a momentous occasion.

President Jimenez invited me to cover the event but there at that moment, I could barely cover. I was just taking it all in with wide-eyed awe and a full heart, listening, as a huge fan, to their story.

For how could I not? It was a band that accompanied my generation in the murky years of our lives – from teenage to adulthood, those years of first loves and first heartbreaks, first defeats and first triumphs.

But for the first time, I was not watching them perform. I was listening to their stories about their UP days.

What they said about UP being a bastion of freedom and an abode to find your voice and pursue your passion is perhaps true for every UP student and alumni.

Most Distinguished Alumnus

Days before, in a separate but equally festive awarding ceremony for the UP Alumni Association awardees, tycoon Isidro “Sid” Consunji shared a similar story as a student after he was hailed as this year’s Most Distinguished Alumnus of UP.

Sid described himself as an ordinary engineering student but highlighted the fact that he also learned a lot from the time he spent in UP – outside its classrooms.

“I spent more time outside the classroom than inside, being active in Beta Epsilon Fraternity and the Association of Civil Engineering Students,” said the DMCI Holdings chairman who led this year’s roster of distinguished awardees.

I, too, was at the UPAA event, together with my family as we received the Multigenerational Alumni Family Award given to us.

On the sidelines of the event, Sid or IAC, as he is known in the business community, asked me where I get my inspiration to write my stories. In jest, I pointed to the Macallan on his table, saying it’s my poison and inspiration.

But in reality, as I stood there at both awarding ceremonies, I was reminded of the fact that its in UP indeed where I really learned to dream and pursue the things that inspire me.

As Ely Buendia said, “UP shaped not only our minds but also our souls.”

And from the others who came before us, our professors and fellow alumni included, we found the courage to carry on.

The Eraserheads and their songs, for instance, are vivid reminders of making it from one point to the next, of surviving the hardest of times and eventually thriving with a smile.

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Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.