MANILA, Philippines--Singer-songwriter GARY Granada is considered one of the country?s best. His eloquence and melodic gifts have produced some of the finest contemporary Pinoy folk songs for nearly three decades.

His first recorded work, ?Kahit Konti,? was sung by Florante in the 1981 Metropop Festival and won second prize.

Through songs like ?Bahay,? ?Pag Nananalo/Natatalo ang Ginebra,? among dozens of others, Granada gained a loyal fan base.

But as he has turned 50 this year, he feels he has squeezed enough creative juice as a recording artist after the release of ?Basurero ng Luneta.?

He calls the independently produced CD his ?graduation album,? saying it will be his last record, although that doesn?t mean he?s retiring as a musician and advertising talent.

Why did you say that ?Basurero ng Luneta? is your last album?

I know myself enough to know that I have reached my limits. I don?t anymore have the tenacity and talent to sustain the level of songwriting I am happy with. It is time to go. Of course I still have to work as a musician and write jingles, but that?s just because I need beer money.

What was the idea behind the making of the album? It seems there are some songs that are part of a whole concept, although there are others with no connection, like the ?Maco? (a town in Compostela Valley) anthem.

There really is no deliberate theme. All I wanted was an album that can be enjoyed for a long time by my 94 ardent fans all over the world ? six more to go! Except perhaps that it?s a sort of a ?graduation? album, which makes the inclusion of the anthem of my hometown quite fitting, don?t you think?

The album?s dominant music form is the blues. Any special reason? The nice thing is you were able to adapt it in a way that makes it sound so Pinoy.

Blues has always been my illicit love. There?s neither market nor mass appeal there though, so I veered towards folk for substance and audience, and traded my soul to pop for money and fame, hehe. It?s ?accesible blues,? if that?s what you mean by ?sounds so Pinoy.?

If you look back on your career, what would you consider as your most prolific years?

Prolific could just be a euphemism for lack of knack. If I was really any good, I need not have written hundreds of songs to just keep flesh and spirit together. Be that as it may, the musical ?Lean? was the vilest ? 100 straight days, 16 hours a day, to complete the first draft.

Which of your songs are very personal to you?

?Balon? in ?Gary Granada Live? is one. I was about 30 years old then, when upon self-examination, I kind of ?realized the futility of it all? ek. In ?Basurero ng Luneta,? the track ?Tulad ng Dati? is one piece I cried over quite a few times. We still see each other every year, the old schoolmates whom I wrote about in the song, and assure each other that nothing has changed, knowing fully well that it isn?t so.

Trivia time: Did you write ?Kahit Konti? for Florante? Or how did he end up recording the song?

No, in fact it was an entry piece for the 1981 Metropop (Song Festival) in the amateur category. It reached the finals and was my very first recorded composition. If I remember right, the organizers suggested that Boy (Florante) interpret the song, which was quite all right with me. It won 2nd place.

What about ?Bahay,? how and why did you write that song?

I wrote it during my couple of years? stay in a squatters relocation community. ?Bahay? was also a contest piece, and took a good six months to finish. I insisted on interpreting the piece myself, since I honestly thought it was quite unthinkable for a pop star to credibly carry the song.

And what about the Ginebra songs, is it true that Danding Cojuangco wanted to buy them and you refused?

The original Ginebra songs were not written for Ginebra San Miguel either. I was just thinking of having a break from my usual protest mode and try writing a hit song. And no, it?s not true that I refused an offer from GSMI to buy the rights to the composition. In fact they regularly use it in their ads.

Let?s look back further. How did you start in the music scene?

As guitarist-singer, I auditioned in folkhouses and got a regular gig at a pub which paid a princely sum of P50 a night for merely doing three 45-minute sets! As composer, I started out as a free-lunch ghostwriter for a neighbor who did musical scoring for movies. I didn?t get credit for my work, but at least I got access to the ref which often had beer in it.

You have successfully balanced art and commerce ? no qualms about doing advertising work without sacrificing your principles. Was that clear to you from the start?

I had no social pedigree to begin with, and until now live in rented spaces. ?Learn to earn? was not available to me. I had to find a way to learn and earn at the same time. And I learned quite a load from the creative discipline of advertising, the tools of which became quite handy as I applied them on my ?truer? passion. Conversely, I sometimes get the chance to infuse substance into selling soap. ?Tagumpay Nating Lahat? was an advertising project, whereas you can?t get any closer to protest music than ?Bahay.? Both ?crossed over? both ways, so why not?

(?Tagumpay Nating Lahat? was sung by Lea Salonga and used in a PLDT campaign. It won the Grand Anvil Award in the 1991 Anvil Awards.)

What?s your greatest frustration as a musician?

That after more than 30 years of writing songs, and over 300 compositions, I still can?t read notes. And my chances of ever learning gets dimmer as my eyes now struggle just by simple reading.