This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 43, December
4-10, 2005
From Bladed Poems to Heroism The
artists behind Songs of Love and Struggle are at it again. But this time,
a few more are joining them. This time we are offered Songs of Struggle and
Liberation. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO The artists behind Songs
of Love and Struggle – soprano Rica Nepomuceno, conductor Josefino Chino
Toledo, pianist Ariel Caces, and songwriters Danny Fabella and Levy Abad Jr. –
are at it again. But this time, a few more are joining them: Tony Palis, Jos
Linnebak, Empiel Palima, Aldeem Yanez, and Chikoy Pura. Released earlier this year,
Songs of Love and Struggle is a 52-minute collection of patriotic songs
from Andres Bonifacio to Jose Maria Sison – as well as a few classic Filipino
love songs. The songs in the said album are rendered as classical music. This time we are offered
Songs of Struggle and Liberation, featuring 15 Sison poems set to music.
It includes all the Sison
poems in Songs of Love and Struggle: “The Guerrilla is Like a Poet,” “The
Giant Oak,” “What Makes a Hero,” “In Praise of Martyrs,” “Sometimes, the Heart
Yearns for Mangoes,” and “The Bladed Poem.” In addition, we are given
classical-music renditions of “The Coming of the Rain,” “A Cool Breeze,” “The
Forest is Still Enchanted,” “A Furnace,” “Gold,” “In the Dark Depths,” “The
North Star is Always There,” “Poems and Rest,” and “Rose for a Waking Woman.” Of prison and beyond A good number of the poems
in this collection speak of life in prison, and are taken from Sison’s own
experience as a revolutionary leader imprisoned during the martial law years. “A Cool Breeze” is a poem
telling of how a jailed revolutionary finds solace in his cell with the coming
of a breeze: “A cool breeze blows into prison/It refreshes the body and warms
the soul/It caresses, kisses and whispers/In prison, there is worthy
struggle//The breeze carries the scent of the red flowers/It is part of the
great irresistible wind/of struggle sweeping all the islands/Everywhere the
message is to fight and win...” The breeze is compared to the people’s struggle
ongoing outside the cell, both comforting the imprisoned revolutionary.
Fabella is able to capture
in this song the combination of soothing and determination suggested by Sison’s
words. In “A Furnace,” Fabella
composed a rather light tune which is quite unexpected considering the heavy
mood of the lyrics: “When it was December/I compared my cell/By midnight to a
freezer/And by midday to an oven//Now that it is summer/I compare it to hell/But
because of its smallness/I also call it a furnace//‘Tis a seething furnace/For
tempering steel/‘Tis a seething furnace/For purifying gold//‘Tis a comforting
metaphor...” “Gold” deals with the same
theme as that of “A Furnace”: In the dark bowels of the earth/Under the mountain
of pressure/That gathers the heat of the sun/Gold is trapped and imprisoned/But
gleams with collected fervor...” Yanez does justice to the poem’s text as he
creates a tune that is reflective at the onset but gains tension through the
end. In “In the Dark Depths,”
Fabella is again in his element as he crafts a tune that expresses resoluteness
amid adversity, befitting the song’s lyrics: “The enemy wants to bury us/In the
dark depths of prison/But shining gold is mined/From the dark depths of the
earth/And the radiant peal is dived/From the dark depths of the sea...” In “Poems and Rest,” Sison
himself tries his hand at setting a poem to music, working with Fabella. The
result is a song that is fast but comforting. Like the prison poems, the
other songs in this collection mostly make for good listening. As in Songs of Love and
Struggle, the combination of Nepomuceno, Toledo and Caces as vocalist,
arranger and pianist proves to be powerful. Nepomuceno and Caces know just when
to be loud and when to be mild. Their renditions of the Sison poems hit the
listeners in the heart. The artists behind Sison, who took a degree in
English Literature from the University of the Philippines (UP) with honors in
1959, has been noted as a writer since his university days. Considered the
Philippines’ leading revolutionary, he has authored several books, including two
poetry anthologies: Brothers and Other Poems and Prison and Beyond.
He won the Southeast Asia WRITE Award in 1986 in Thailand. Fabella, Abad, and Palima
are members of Musikangbayan, a protest folk group that has released three
albums: Rosas ng Digma (Rose of the War), Anak ng Bayan (Child of
the People), and Songs for Peace. Fabella is also with Sining Bulosan,
the cultural arm of Migrante International. Pura is the frontman of the
progressive-oriented band The Jerks, and has portrayed slain activist leader
Leandro “Lean” Alejandro in a musical play. The band is well-loved by activists
and non-activists alike for its protest rock classics like “Rage” and “Sayaw sa
Bubog” among others written and composed by Pura. Pacis is an English teacher
based in Laguna, and is also an organic agriculturist. Yanez is a member of the
church-based activist chorale Haranang Bayan. He was national president of the
Youth of the Iglesia Filipina Independeinte (IFI or Philippine Independent
Church) and vice chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the
Philippines (NCCP). Toledo, who teaches at the
UP College of Music, is the founding director of the Metro Manila Community
Orchestra and the UP Festival Orchestra, among other music groups. Nepomuceno
took a degree in Music at UP under the tutelage of Fides Cuyugan-Asencio, and
pursued further vocal studies in Vienna and Italy. Caces, besides being an
accomplished classical pianist, is also a conductor. Bulatlat © 2005 Bulatlat
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Review of the CD album Songs of
Struggle and Liberation
Produced by the Euro-Philippine Inter-Cultural Solidarity (EPICS)
Manufactured and distributed in the Philippines by IBON Foundation
Bulatlat