There’s a new Cayabyab in town

MANILA, Philippines - 2014 was also a milestone For musician and composer Krina Cayabyab, who had as equally fulfilling a year as her father. With her first musical mounted in October, and the growing success of her vocal group Baihana, Krina continues to make her own mark in the music scene.

“The earliest vivid memory of me doing something musical, thanks to my father being able to capture it on video, was when I was two years old, dancing and singing to Smokey Mountain’s hit song ‘Kailan,’ entertaining my parents,” Krina shares. “I don’t know if that’s considered as the realization of a love for music, but maybe it was the start of my life getting involved with music and loving it.”

Of course, one of the people Krina looks up to in the music industry is her father. “I look up to him as a unique creator of music, whatever genre it is. And so I feel like wanting to get into that direction of being a successful-in-many-ways kind of composer like him,” she says. Indeed, Krina is well on her way to achieving success in various facets of her career in music – as a performer, arranger and composer.

She considers it a blessing to be related to a musician of Cayabyab’s stature. “One pro is that you get to be part of the music industry circle easily, yet at the same time there are high expectations with regard to the talent you can offer.” She also values the senior Cayabyab’s tips on writing, and thoughts on music.

Krina shares, “When I entered the College of Music (in UP-Diliman), no one was pressuring me to live up to the name of Ryan Cayabyab. But as if naturally, I initiated the pressure within myself. Somehow this helped me have the motivation of trying to be very good, and trying out different musical styles and opportunities as well.”

Aside from her father, Krina’s music idols include Gerard Salonga, conductor of the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra; Snarky Puppy, a New York-based fusion band; French composer Claude Debussy; and pianist Jesper Mercado. She is also inspired by “The musicians and performers I get to work with and see, who tirelessly hone their talent and give their all, whose enjoyment when making music just naturally radiates when they perform or create music.”

2014 proved to be an important year in Krina’s music career, as her first full-length musical, “Ang Huling Lagda ni Apolinario Mabini,” was staged by Dulaang UP.

The play, starring Roeder Camañag, explores the life and times of Mabini, giving the audience a more personal glimpse of the of the sublime paralytic. Krina’s energetic compositions reflect Western musical styles fused with indigenous music influences. 

The budding composer shares about her creative process, “When I am commissioned to do something I usually search for musical ideas/pegs, then I try to make a twist with whatever I do most of the time. What I listen to and what experiences I’m going through at the moment would influence the music that I’d do.”

“It has been a challenging, beautiful, life-changing experience, especially working with the greats of theater, Floy Quintos and Dexter Santos,” she says. “They’ve guided me, they’ve influenced in me significant qualities such as being so passionate, of working hard, of not stopping until you get something done right, of thinking about the whole musical as a work in progress until the very last showdate, that you can change something so that the whole play could work better.” She adds that working with actors and the production team of Dulaang UP was particularly inspiring.

Presented in October, coinciding with the hero’s 150th birth anniversary, the musical play was received enthusiastically by audiences, prompting additional show dates to be scheduled.

Krina also arranges all of Baihana’s pieces. The vocal trio, which she founded with Anna Achacoso-Graham and Mel Torre in 2008, gives a jazzy, old school twist to the year’s chart toppers. “Anna Achacoso-Graham, my friend in college, opened to me this idea of forming a girl vocal group following the style of the Puppini Sisters, who would sing the popular bebop and swing style from the 1940s, and at the same time arrange modern/pop songs in that style,” says Krina. “We perform in bars, weddings, corporate events, art events, school events, anywhere.”

Baihana collaborated closely with the elder Cayabyab last year for Mr. C’s 60th birthday celebration with ABS-CBN. Krina says, “Baihana was tasked to perform his ‘Mamang Kutsero’ and so he arranged the orchestral part for us, and I accordingly put in the vocal arrangement with his suggestions.” She candidly describes collaborating with the maestro: “Intimidating, embarrassing, yet at the same time fun and nakaka-starstruck, sa totoo lang.”

With a promising year ahead, Krina has many plans: “I want to continue making music for the theater, try out scoring for films, produce an album with Baihana, tour the world with our music. Academically, I want to finish my masters degree in Musicology and maybe push it to PhD, at the same time continue being a music educator.”

All the while, she keeps in mind the best advice she has received from her father: “Be the best in whatever field you are in. Make a difference.”