Look Ma, They're singing my song!

I have never missed my mom more than today when they performed the song  I wrote for this year's retirees.  These retirees have been working for our organization with an average of 25 years altogether.  One of them has served for 41 years even.  Talk about commitment.

Marites Panaligan, who did the music and with whom I have already written two songs earlier, just by sheer magic, once again read my mind and wrote the melody just like the way I wanted it written.  After we had composed the song, we talked about selecting who to sing the song and we were unanimous in choosing another music teacher, Ms. Marce Flores, who sings with passion and intense emotion, to sing the song.

Anyway, the reason I miss my mom is because the song is written in her genre.  Yes, she sang kundimans, a type of Filipino love song which is more like a serenade. My mother used to sing with my aunt in a radio show (that was way before the tv was invented) and would probably even sing songs my grandfather wrote (he was a judge, a violinist and a composer although I have yet to see a single song that survived.  My grandfather died when my grandmother was carrying my mother in her womb). 

Anyway, hoping that I could keep a copy of the performance, I am posting it here.  And here it goes:
my song

Painting and other things

Once again, school is about to start.  I  have been going to school regularly since last week for the new teachers pre-service training.  I even hosted one of the sessions with the new teachers.  It has been a tight schedule ever since.

I have started taking up Chinese painting with Mr. Ceasar Cheng who holds classes at the 4th floor every Saturdays at the Fully Booked in Taguig.  It is a wonderful experience and I am beginning to paint in a different style which is more spontaneous but clear and impressionistic way.

My thinking is that Chinese painting would liberate my inhibitions with paint, especially, with watercolor,  which to my observation of the masters like Alvaro Castagnet, is more impressionistic than anything else.  I have always been bound to fuzz on too much detail when doing watercolor and I don't like what I have been doing with the medium so far.  With Chinese painting, I become more loose with the medium and hopefully, would see things more in a painterly way.  Should I learn to do what I have set out to do, I would probably have the guts to join my former classmate, Buds Convocar, and his group the Philippine Plein Air Painters Association, who meets every last Sunday of the month for a painting session.

I have been painting in oil more frequently now.  While I am still developing my style, I think I am making progress towards that goal of perfecting my art.  I have now incorporated detailed hand(s) on my work and probably a face to suggest the importance of these two functions in our lives.  I still do not know where this will take me but I am going ahead with this plan.  I kind of like what I am seeing so far.  Given a few more months, I will master a technique and develop my own style.

I have also written my third song which I collaborated with Ms. Tess Panaligan who did the music and the arrangement of the song.  This song is for the retirees this year. In my mind, I would like to peek into the minds of those who are about to retire.  What would it be like when after a long period of time, suddenly, everything shall stop?  Will it be a sad event knowing that you will be stepping for the last time on the grounds of the institution you have learned to love? Will it be a sad moment knowing that you will be set apart from your friends? Your friends who have shared your glories in the past and those who have witnessed you at your most vulnerable moment?  Or will it be a joyous occasion knowing that it will be a cessation of a seemingly invisible bondage?

My idea of the song is that to an outsider, retirement would seem like an end.   Using the usual imagery of dusk and dawn to signify renewal and death, I opined that no matter what time of day, they share the same face.  It will be upon those that perceive the fading out or fading in of  the sun to make what they think of the spectacular view of either sunrise or sunset.  The song goes like this:

Paalam muna mga kaibigan

I

ang sabi mo'y takip silim

ang tingin ko'y bukang-liwayway

habang puso ko’y naninimdim

sumusukong pakaway-kaway

II

oo nga't ako’y palisan na

at kayo nama'y paroon pa

malayo pa ang dapit hapon

ng aking buhay na sinisinta

 III

di pa’ko titingin sa mga bituin

habol sa aninong likha ng dilim

nais kong inyong pakaisipin

meron pang talang pwede kong abutin

refrain

 masdan nyo’t iisa ang mukha

ng dapit hapon at  madaling araw

di ba’t pareho lang agaw dilim?

pahupa man o sisilay pa lamang

ang araw ay muling isisilang

tulad kong hihiwalay sa kadiliman

 IV

oo nga’t heto na’t dumating

at umiba na ng tutunguhin

sana nama’y di malimutan

halakhak, luha na aking iiwan

 V.

Paalam muna mga kaibigan

Maliit lang ang mundong ginagalawan

Pasasaan ba’t tayo’y magkikita

Kung hindi man dito  o ngayon

Maaaring bukas sa dako pa roon.

For those who do not speak Tagalog like my American friends, I did a very loose translation and it goes like this: 

So long for now my friend

I

You say sunset

I see sunrise

My heart is crestfallen

As I wave goodbye

II

Though I am leaving soon

And you’re still finding your way

Twilight is still a distance away

In my seemingly exhausted life

 III

I won’t be staring at the moon just yet,

Running after shadows created by its glow

All I ask from you is remember

There's a star I still have yet to reach

Refrain

Notice that dawn and dusk

Share the same face

They both exude partial darkness.

Whether the sun is setting

Or is just about to take a peek

The sun shall be born again

Just like me who shall rise  from the dark

 IV

I know the time has come

For me to change my course

I hope you won’t forget

Laughter and tears I shall leave behind

 V.

Farewell for now my friends

We live in such a small world

I know we shall meet again

If not here or now

Maybe tomorrow in a faraway land