BASISTA, PANGASINAN ? Anyone passing through this small agricultural town in central Pangasinan will be greeted by an arch that reads: "Welcome to Basista: Home of Famous Orchestras, Where Fine Music Begins."

Residents here have reason to be proud: Ten of the more than 20 orchestras in Pangasinan province are based in Basista which had a population of 26,616 as of 2000.

Eight of the orchestras are based in Barangay Dumpay, one of this town's 13 villages. The other two are in Barangay Poblacion.

Nowhere in the province, perhaps in the country, can one find so many homegrown orchestras in a single town.

"This has been a source of livelihood for many people here for many years now," says Egbert de Guzman, bandmaster of the Don Podring Orchestra, one of the more sought-after orchestras in Basista, about 190 kilometers north of Metro Manila.

"It was passed on to us by our grandfathers," he adds.

De Guzman, 38, a political science graduate of the University of the Philippines in Diliman who also took courses at the UP College of Music, belongs to the third generation of musicians in his clan.

Profitable

Although seasonal, with engagements peaking between October and June every year, De Guzman says the orchestra is a profitable business. They play in different parts of Luzon, earning at least P70,000 for each performance.

"It's good business. You make a little money, you are able to help your relatives, especially the musicians, and you enjoy [the job]," he says.

An orchestra employs an average of 35 people, including dancers and backup singers.

Gov. Amado Espino Jr. says the members of the orchestra and their families are direct beneficiaries.

"If there are 10 orchestras, you have employed 350 people and that's 350 families [benefiting from the employment]," Espino says. "And they [orchestras] harness our talents. Many singers are offered jobs as singers by big hotels in Metro Manila."

The provincial government organized the first Grand Orchestra Showdown as part of this year's celebration of the Pista y Dayat (Sea Festival) in the province to showcase the province's orchestras as the "finest" in Luzon.

How it all began

De Guzman says the idea of organizing an orchestra in Basista evolved from the local farmers' rhythmic pounding of threshed palay in a taltagan, a boat-like wooden equipment used in pounding rice, to entertain themselves during harvest seasons in the past.

"The farmers later sang folk songs accompanied by musical instruments such as ukulele, guitar, flute and improvised drums from tin cans and gasoline containers," he says.

Then the farmers formed a group and sang Christmas carols. The practice was called aligando.

"They soon realized they could earn more money by performing at parades during fiestas using a trompa (a loudspeaker used in public address systems)," De Guzman says.

During rainy days, they would join musicians performing at the former US military bases in Olongapo City and in Clark, Pampanga, to entertain American servicemen.

Naturals

"They were naturals. They had no formal training [in music]. Oido-oido lang sa una pero noong medyo na-expose sila sa Olongapo, doon nila na-realize na kailangan pala, marunong silang bumasa ng nota (They initially played by ear but when they started playing in Olongapo, they realized that they should learn to read notes)," De Guzman says.

When Everlasting Orchestra, one of the first orchestras in the province, was formed in the mid-1950s, most of its musicians were recruited from the Caranto clan of Basista.

Not long after, De Guzman says, his grandfathers, brothers Juan and Domingo Caranto, left the Everlasting Orchestra and decided to form their own orchestras here.

These were the Harmony Orchestra and Paradise Orchestra. De Guzman's mother, Priscilla Caranto, is Juan's daughter.

When Harmony Orchestra disbanded, De Guzman says his uncle, Zisoy Caranto, joined his cousins, Joe and Esting Caranto (children of Domingo), and formed the Caranto Brothers Orchestra in the 1960s.

The Caranto Brothers Orchestra would become a byword in every town fiesta in the province in the years that followed.

To date, six of the 10 orchestras here bear the name "Caranto."

Family tradition

This decades-old family tradition of literally passing on the baton is also practiced in other Pangasinan towns where orchestras flourished.

In Villasis town, Lina Abuan, owner of the Lina J. Abuan Orchestra, says her group used to be the Ambassador Orchestra that her father, Delfin Jandoc, founded in the 1960s.

Abuan's son, Jake, is now the orchestra's bandmaster.

Rod Palaganas, owner and bandmaster of the Rod Palaganas Orchestra, says his group evolved from the Melody Boys that his grandfather organized in Malasiqui town.

Piolo, Regine movie

Governor Espino says Pangasinan orchestras are the "finest in Luzon," with many of them playing in places as far as Cagayan, Isabela and the Ilocos provinces.

Nick Caranto, bandmaster of the Joe Caranto and Caranto Brothers Orchestra, says even if they do not advertise, people know where to contact them.

"Sometimes, DIs (dance instructors) would ask for business cards from us or some balikbayan would videotape our performances," Caranto says.

De Guzman says his group's most memorable performance was when they were cast last year in the movie "Paano Kita Iibigin?" The movie starred Piolo Pascual and Regine Velasquez.

De Guzman's Don Podring Orchestra also played for the movie's sound track.

"Regine was so impressed with our performance. She said she did not know that an orchestra in Pangasinan could play her song," he says.

The movie's director, Joyce Bernal, was De Guzman's classmate at the St. Charles Academy in San Carlos City.

Here to stay

Lina Abuan says orchestras will continue to flourish, despite the emergence of digital music technology.

"I think it's because people love live music, especially in the barangay," she says.

"Kasi 'pag nagpatugtog ka lang ng recording, maganda nga, pero di mo naman nakikita iyong mga kumakanta at iyong mga tumutugtog (It's nice when you play recordings, but you can not see the musicians sing and play on stage)," De Guzman says.

"Besides, 'pag walang orchestra, very dry ang fiesta. Hangga't 'di maaalis ang tradition na fiesta, may orchestra (Without orchestras, fiesta celebrations will be dry. For as long as there are fiestas, the orchestra is here to stay)," he says.