Music that defies time

Five balladeers will turn back the hands of time this month and take audiences to a time when virtually all songs were love songs.

Five former members of the iconic New Minstrels Band, which shot to fame in the mid-‘70s and swept audiences off their feet till the late-‘80s, are turning the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium at the RCBC building on Sept. 13 and 19 into a time machine that will transport you to the ‘60s, a decade wherein, “when, people wrote songs, it meant something.”

This is according to lawyer Rene Puno, who joined The New Minstrels (TNM) in the late-‘70s. After he left the group, he made a name for himself with his A-list clients. Though he sings like God’s minstrel at the St. James Choir in Alabang, he has not performed in a band for decades.

Minstrel original Ding Mercado never left the stage even after the group disbanded, performing for a time in Hong Kong, where he lived for 13 years and also engaged in the costume jewelry business. His other passion is serving the Mt. Carmel Church in Quezon City as a lay minister.

Eugene Villaluz, who actually formed the New Minstrels in 1974 along with fellow Bedan Cesar de la Fuente (married to another Minstrel Louie Reyes), became a professor after the group’s curtain call. He still teaches to this day at the MINT College.

Chad Borja, who joined the Minstrels in 1987 after being discovered by actress Vivian Velez in Cebu, had to put down the microphone when diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997. He had delicate surgery at the Makati Medical Center, before which he was warned of the risk that if his hairline-thin vocal nerve were severed, he would never be able to sing professionally again.

Under the care of excellent doctors, Chad not only survived surgery and radiation unscathed, he also found himself in better physical form after his recovery.  He relocated to Davao and went into the business of building and selling houses. Four years ago, he returned to his enduring love, singing.

A guest performer in the new group’s maiden concerts is another former Minstrel, Ray-An Fuentes, who is now a full-time pastor in Vancouver, Canada. Ray-An will again be joining the group on Sept. 13 and 19.

Ding, Eugene, Rene, Chad (who is only in his forties) and Ray-An will take the audience back to a time when, as Rene says, “the lyrics of a song said it all.”

And then they sing for me, unrehearsed, a cappella during the interview:

Precious and few are the moments we two can share

Quiet and blue like the sky I’m hung over you

And if I can’t find my way back home

It just wouldn’t be fair

Precious and few are the moments we two can share

***

The New Minstrels Divos is a brainchild of Ding, who wrote the script and directed the show for this Saturday and next Friday. “There aren’t too many places in Manila where you can listen live to ‘60s music. We are packaged as individual entertainers who could do a variety of songs from the ‘60s and ‘70s. I feel a void in that entertainment segment of the ‘60s,” says Ding. He invited fellow Minstrels Eugene, Rene and Chad to be the mainstays of the group.

“For me, the ‘60s were the good ol’ days, when you expressed your true emotions in a way that is very clear and very romantic. And that’s not just for slow songs. Even the fast songs meant something. The fast songs of the ‘60s were very, very charming. It wasn’t about fighting, it wasn’t about angst, it wasn’t about turmoil,” says Rene, who was born in the mid-50s, but remembers his dad Justice Ricardo Puno playing ‘60s music on the piano and singing along.

Chad can also identify with ‘60s music because his father sang songs of the decade, and so they weren’t alien to him.

Rene recalls that during the group’s maiden concerts at the Teatrino in Greenhills, he would see younger people moved to tears during the concert.

“It’s not so much the older people only but even the younger people who would be crying, like businessman Joseph Calata for example, who is in his thirties. You wonder why. Yun pala, they grew up with their parents listening to that kind of music. So it’s not just a throwback to our parents or even our older brothers, but also a throwback to our memories of the times we spent with our parents,” Rene, a father of three himself, believes.

“I think, with music there are no time boundaries,” adds Rene’s stunning wife Ann.

 The Minstrels Divos’ favorite singers of decades past include Rick Astley, the Bee Gees, Barry Manilow, The Beatles, The Lettermen, The Association, the Friends of Distinction, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and Andy Williams.

“Don’t you ever wonder,” points out Rene, “that when Tony Bennett or Engelbert Humperdinck comes for a concert, it’s always sold out?”

***

Why call themselves The New Minstrels Divos?

“A divo is a big talented star or one with a big attitude. It’s positive-negative,” says Ding, emphasizing that either way, a divo catches attention.

In their cases, they are certain the word “divo” refers to their God-given talents (virtually all of them work with a church group, and Chad believes his recovery is a testimony to God’s mercy).

But singularly, no one is a “divo” in the group. They make it a point to harmonize, literally and figuratively.

“We rehearse on our own then gel a few days before the performance. We only have vocal rehearsals for the major numbers, the medleys. We also entertain our audience with our repartee — not too controversial, feel-good, not trying hard,” says Ding.

“In a group like ours, you forget yourself, you forget that you are also soloists. Dapat walang mangingibabaw,” adds Chad.

The group performs without a teleprompter, which Rene prefers. “This challenges me in a different way, I feel younger when I exercise my memory.”

To all four minstrels/divos, music beats plastic surgery in defying age.

To Rene, it is a stress-buster; to Chad, it’s therapeutic. Who would have guessed he once had throat cancer?

And to Ding (Eugene and Ray-An were not available during our interview), music is life and life should be as melodious as music.

“We must accommodate music in our lives, and our lives in our music. It is a big part of who we are,” concludes Ding.

(Sincerely, The New Minstrels Divos concert will be held at the Carlos P. Romulo Auditorium, RCBC Building, Makati City on Sept. 13 and 19, 8 p.m. Tickets are available at all TicketWorld outlets. Call 891-9999.) (You may e-mail me at [email protected].)