Baguio musicians come a long way

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March L. Fianza

They still find time to play music together although many of them are successful in their selected fields. More than a dozen have migrated to the USA in search for better opportunities and protection in “Uncle Sam’s Arms” while the rest of the bunch preferred to be busy with their jobs in Baguio or elsewhere in the Philippines. Some of them remained in the music business and never stopped playing.

I am referring to the singers and musicians of the 70s and 80s who were the fixtures in the watering holes and restaurants cum liquor bars in Baguio City. These particular shops called “folkhouses” were The Fireplace, Gingerbreadman which metamorphosed into The Cuckoo’s Nest, Tic-Tac-Toe, Cozy Nook, Harpo’s, Music Box, Cappriccio, and the Lone Star in Camp John Hay to name some.

Ironically, singing which they can do best and which they had been doing for four decades now, has made them the “unsung heroes” of today. Their unity and bondage became tighter while practicing for one of the first Baguio “all star cast” concert “May You Stay Forever Young,” a song title borrowed from Bob Dylan, on December 10, 1977.

Many of Baguio ’s part time folksingers in the 70s sung their first song at The Fireplace or at TheGingerbreadman before scouting for extra singing slots in other folkhouses. In truth, The Fireplace andGingerbreadman folkhouses practically served as training grounds for many folksingers in Baguio .

The bars were then popularly called “folkhouses,” maybe because the performers sung a broad mixture of American folk music, folk-jazz, folk-country, folk-rock and other similar genres.

Or maybe the nightspots were called folkhouses then because a majority of their regular crowd consisted of common people – students, professionals, government workers, farmers from nearby towns in Benguet Province, foreign and local tourists, US Peace Corps volunteers, and neighborhood drunks, of course.

The Fireplace was where Filipino singer-composer-artist Tito Mina, now an expat in Germany, sang “Early Morning Rain” by Gordon Lightfoot, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright” by Dylan and“You Can Close Your Eyes” by James Taylor, before he wrote his Filipino hit song “Ikaw Pa Rin.”

Singing as a part time job backed up school fees for many of us. I know that because I was one who skipped late evening classes once in a while in order to play my sets. Bubut Olarte, a lawyer for 30 years now and a candidate in the last elections, admitted that a big part of his law studies was supported by his singing.

Most of the singers at The Fireplace did not attend formal studies in music. But their natural talents pulled them together such that the singing they do sounded so amazing, a new duet or trio or quartet can be formed right away during rehearsals.

“For-a-cause” concerts or benefit shows are not new to the early singers of The Fireplace, Gingerbreadman or Cuckoo’s Nest. As far as I can recall, we performed the first-ever benefit concerts in the Cordillera. In December 1977, the group that was once called the Baguio Musicians’ Guild performed in Banawe, Kiangan and Lagawe in Ifugao to support the establishment of school libraries in that province.

The Ifugao trip was followed by a “concert-for-a-cause” inside the Lepanto Mining Co. in the town of Mankayan , Benguet during the cold month of January 1978, replicated by another show in the Univ. of the Phil., Los Baños that benefited the Green Mountain Circle , an organization of students from the Cordillera Region.

Today, even while most of their time is occupied by work, the musicians and singers find themselves playing in benefit concerts for heart, kidney and cancer patients, or for any good cause. The reality is that the “for-a-cause” musical event has already developed into a community effort.

Organizing such concerts primarily involves the musicians who share their talents free of charge, the nightspot owner or manager who allows such concerts to be scheduled in his establishment for free so that the participating musicians are relieved from the burden of renting musical instruments, while promoting such worthwhile projects are taken cared of by equally concerned newsmen and editors.

The more difficult task in organizing benefit concerts is the disposal of tickets. People want to help especially so because they know how costly it is to treat cancer, heart diseases, or do dialysis treatment for kidney patients. So that there are people I know who want to buy tickets not for the help that they can give, but for the praises and popularity that they can get, especially during elections.

There are also people who frown on such activities, including some politicians that I know who do not want to buy benefit concert tickets. Ironically, these are the same people and politicians who are always present during wakes or vigils for the departed. It makes me wonder if there is sense in giving more to the living than to the dead. And sometimes I ask myself if what we are doing in organizing benefit concerts is after all a big mistake.

Just like the Baguio musicians who are scattered in the US , Canada , Europe and Asia , benefit concerts have come a long way. At least three or four benefit shows were already organized by Fireplace singers in the US , and a number of BIBAK groups all over are asking if they can also have one in their area.

On September 4, 2010, Fireplace singers will again get together in "The Fireplace Gathering,” a concert being co-organized by Hec Cruz, Ivan Reyes and Ed Montemayor who are all residents of Canada . This will be held at the Thorn Cliff - Greenview Community Center , 5600 Center Street, NE Calgary , AB.

This time Conrad Marzan who is scheduled to fly back to the US after a short vacation in Baguio, will make himself available. He will perform with Felix Tayaotao, Danny T., Chat, Richard and Meggs.

In fact he was the lead performer in the benefit concert “Saturday Night: Live at Kalei’s” held last night at the Kalei’s Grille for nine-year old Delson Lipawen, a heart patient.

Hec said there will also be guest appearances by Chat’s hubby Pendong Aban of the undying Asin band, Leo Marrero and Rene Aguinaldo, all Baguio boys.

Folkhouses opened in other parts of the business district, but they vanished almost at the same when profit-oriented managers shifted to sing-along karaoke beer pubs or videoke bars.

The Fireplace and Gingerbreadman, two pioneering folkhouses in the early 70’s also succumbed to the changing times and decision of the bar owners to close down, since karaoke and videoke machines were replacing live musicians in many other nightspots in the city. –marchfianza777@yahoo.com