Cebu Calling

By Gilianne Kathryn L. Gantuangco Special to The Manila Times

We are currently in the midst of a Cebuano musical invasion. Urban Dub, Jr. Kilat, Sheila and the Insects, Faspitch, Ambassadors and Cueshe are just some of the band that have continued to dominate the nations’ airwaves or earn the accolades of critics the past few years.

And the prodigious overflow of talent from the island in the South shows no signs of abating. Renowned for world-class artistry, Cebuano bands are also responsible for many local English songs indistinguishable from foreign ones—understandable since Tagalog is not their lingua franca. But now, there’s an album that gathers some of Cebu’s most promising bands that is proudly in Visayan and is adamantly nationalistic. It’s bisrock (Visayan rock) that’s maayo kaayo.

Dilaab (conflagration or tongues of fire) Foundation, Inc. has produced an album based on the book 12 Little Things Every Filipino Can Do to Help Our Country by Atty. Alexander Lacson, aptly called Nasud Ko (My Nation). Dilaab believes that the idea was a creative way of linking love of God to love of country. And that Bisrock is an excellent medium for getting civic virtues into the mainstream.

Eleven bands have volunteered to compose one song. Each song talks about a value that each Filipino citizen should wholeheartedly follow for a better and more united nation. Some of the bands who stepped up where Aggressive Audio with “Support your Church,” Assembly Language with “Do not Buy Smuggled Goods, Buy Filipino,” The Agadiers with “Be a Good Parent to Your Child,” Mantequilla with “Pay Your Taxes” and Phylum with “Respect the Authorities.” The album’s eponymous carrier single “Nasud Ko” was composed by Fr. Carmelo Diola.

Even before the album’s conception, these bands have been making songs and have been getting attention locally. Assembly Language, for example, bagged the “Best Bisrock Pop Song of the Year, 2007” for their song “Chinita.” The Agadiers has also won three Battle of the Bands in Cebu and has successfully released their album in 2005, and their second album is currently in the works. And just recently, Phylum was featured in the television public service program Kapuso Mo, Jessica Soho.

Cebuano pride and nationalism are prime values for these musicians. According to the members of Aggressive Audio said, “We want Cebuano rock music to be heard and appreciated and we want people to know that our music can be other than just being folk and country songs.”

“Dilaab is a nonprofit religious organization. We volunteered to be a part of the album because it is also our way of showing the Lord our gratitude for having this talent in music,” said Phylum’s lead guitarist Charleston Miparanum. Indeed, this is the first time for a locally compiled album to be produced and the responses have been overwhelming, especially from the youth bracket. Credit this to the fact that Bisrock has a huge following in Cebu and in the neighboring Visayan regions as well.

“The album allowed us to venture to a new horizon and it’s a good way of changing the world through music. It shows that change can happen by following the simple rules we’ve known all along,” said lead vocalist Alaine Agadier of the Agadiers.