ATENEAN bands Hansom and Hymn of Siren are performing at Club Dredd, a local music hotspot at Eastwood City. It’s 11 p.m. on a Friday and Club Dredd is packed with people. Music is blaring and the place is wrapped in the smell of beer and cigarette smoke. People from the audience occasionally bop their heads to the bands’ tunes. Claps and hoots are garnered shortly after a song.
Hansom and Hymn of Siren are two of the 22 bands that make up the Ateneo Musicians’ Pool’s (AMP) band roster. At Club Dredd, the audience is perhaps enjoying what AMP President Peter Villarosa (IV BS Mgt) describes as an AMP band’s “own unique sound and feel.” But when asked if the bands are building their music to fit foreign standards, Peter says, “Of course they are.”
One then might wonder, how originally Pinoy is the music of the Ateneo band scene?
A sound of their own
As siblings, they have been together since birth. As band mates, they have been making music for four years. They are the Verge de Dios brothers Gino (IV BS Mgt), Ton (II AB Comm), and Aldo (AHS). They are the punk-rock and yet genre-flexible-trio Hansom.
Having been compared to local bands Kamikazee and Parokya ni Edgar, Hansom is known for “witty, joke-time” hits “Landi” and “Bahala na si Batman.”
The boys say that as a band, they are naturally KSP (kulang sa pansin, in need of attention) while on stage. They like to entertain by improvising. They also adlib when booboos unexpectedly arise. Lead vocalist and guitarist Ton recounts a time when they diverted to singing the Backstreet Boys’ “Quit Playing Games with My Heart” when bassist Gino busted a string.
What is perhaps noticeable from the band’s quick resurrection of the occasional mess-ups is their cause in mind. Although they work to be heard locally, they say coming up with songs that can be recognized internationally would not hurt. When it comes to OPM (Original Pilipino Music) that sounds foreign, Gino says, “It usually means it’s a good thing.”
But what remains local about their music, they say, are the personas behind it. Backbiting, being torpe, and being fatalistic are some of the things they convey through songs. Much like their local influence Parokya ni Edgar, Ton says they try to relay serious issues in a “lighter, less serious vibe.” Gino adds, “We want to differentiate ourselves [from other bands of the same genre]. Our package has to be different from what they have to offer. And it is.”
Meanwhile, all-girl band Hymn of Siren is composed of Marcee Lacap (BFA TA ’08), Ashley Gosiengfiao (II BFA ID), Cindy Custodio (BFA CW ’08), Ida del Mundo, and Maya Apeles (II BS Bio). They derived their band name from a description of the voice of Maynard James Keenan, lead vocalist of A Perfect Circle (APC). APC also happens to be the band’s major influence.
Admittedly, the girls mainly look up to foreign bands. Drummer Maya, however, says in Filipino, “We want to make a name for ourselves. Of course, we won’t copy. We just get ideas from their music.” According to lead vocalist Marcee, the band’s sound is still very Filipino. “When you hear a Filipino band, or a local artist, it will get to you. You will just feel it.”
Their songs are rooted from the “sexy moody rock” genre. They are usually about “life, love, and everything in between,” according to Marcee. With these in mind, they say their Filipino audience can identify with what their songs are about.
But the comparisons are not just about sounding foreign. With the growing number of all-girl groups in the Philippines, Hymn of Siren is striving for individuality. “When we find out that our songs sound [like] that of other bands’, we don’t play them anymore no matter how nice they are,” says Marcee in Filipino. They want people to see them not as “another Imago,” she says.
Ultimately, although Hansom and Hymn of Siren are inevitably inspired by the output of the international music scene, the end-goal of enjoying the company of band mates while making homegrown music still emanates. They say the experiences that inspired their song’s words define how their sound is local.
Dating from way back
In “Music in History, History in Music,” author Dr. Antonio Hila says that Filipinos during the colonial period based their folk songs on music brought by Spaniards—habanera and polka, among others. This continued on to the American colonization. Hila writes in Filipino, “[They] only got the gist [of such songs] and gave it a native taste.”
But Filipino bands cannot completely veer away from foreign influence, says Assistant Filipino Professor Gary Devilles. He says, “[Foreign culture] has always been there. We will always copy.” Devilles was a guest speaker in “Ang Estetika ng Reiterasyon sa Awiting Popular bilang Diskurso ng Kontra-gahum,” a talk on OPM last August.
Over the years, other musical genres have started to evolve. Devilles cites a Filipino rock icon as an example. “The Juan dela Cruz Band is not necessarily original in a sense that they started the genre. [Filipino] rock [was] influenced by American rock,” he says.
Although this may be the case, he says that local talents make do with genres and styles that already exist by modifying them to make them their own. He calls this experimentation or hybrid.
Devilles is quick to say that modifying foreign influences does not stand true to translating songs per se; it also involves the ability of local bands to infuse musical styles and forms to make their sound unique. Above all, Devilles stresses that what makes OPM distinct is not the entirely the sound, but the people behind it, making music that reflects experiences of those living in the country.
OPM?
If there is no prescribed formula in making music sound distinctly Filipino, are the Atenean music maker’s nationalistic efforts in vain?
To this Devilles says, “There will be Filipinization as long as [the] definition of Filipinization is the continued experimentation of other forms of music [and] other technologies and appropriating [them] into our day to day lives.”
Interdisciplinary Studies Lecturer Jonathan Coo, who teachers Music Appreciation classes, agrees. “Filipinos can not completely copy what’s popular because a song is half composer and half lyricist. The lyrics are original Filipino,” he says. “Filipinization should happen every time we involve and acknowledge the lyricist.”
In the case of Atenean talent, Peter says, “[They] have their own sense of style and sound. They try their best not to sound like an existing band but rather create a truly distinct sound and image for themselves.”
“[They] don’t try to make Pinoy music,” Peter says. “[They] are Pinoy music.”
Published in The GUIDON, September 2008 Features Section
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