DONG ABAY is back again.

produksyon, distribusyon at konsumpsyon ng kanta at bandang rock sa lipunang pilipino: pagtanaw at pananaw ni dong abay, boses ng yano at pan

Back for another crack at the music industry

“Ang ikukwento ay buhay ko at buhay mo. Ang ikukwento, buhay pilipino.”

"The gunfire around us makes it hard to hear. But the human voice is different from other sounds. It can be heard over noises that bury everything else. Even when it's not shouting. Even when it's just a whisper. Even the lowest whisper can be heard over armies...when it's telling the truth." – The Interpreter


Let’s make one thing clear first: dongabay is a band fronted by Dong Abay. The other members are: Vinty Lava on guitars; R2 Pioquindo on bass and Abe Billano on drums (although on the album, bass was done by Buddy Zabala and drums by Raimund Marasigan). And the album is entitled Flipino – note the spelling; that is not a typo. Ok, so now that we have the facts crystal clear, let’s get on with the review…


There is music that is best appreciated in the solace of a darkened room, with eyes closed and the mind free to wander; but, Flipino is no such album. This is music that should be ingested with both eyes wide open to the world in which we live in, and the eye in our mind open to our being – because that is what this album is all about: It is about being, and being in the world today (I could be more philosophical than that, but really, it could get ugly).


More than a decade after invading the filipino consciousness with the aggressive folk/punk sound of Yano, Dong Abay, now with his new band dongabay, still proves to have a voice that commands an audience, armed with lyrics that provoke thought for anyone willing to listen; although now, the approach is in a different, yet still familiar, way as before.


The person making the music is now older, and his songs have matured along with him. The Abay that fronted one of the pillars of the 90’s rock scene, and the Abay that is just a footnote in today’s huge, wild, and wooly music industry are two similar, yet distinct entities. As I’ve desperately tried to describe in one of the local forums (possibly to no avail), the old Abay exudes this Bonifacio aura and outlook, while the new and older Abay seems to have integrated a good deal of the Rizal type of philosophy in his music.


There is much less attitude and belligerence in the mood that his new album brings, and most of the songs that maintain this mood are some of the best that Dong Abay has created. The musically dense “Mateo Singko” - arguably the best song on the album - is simply a treat for the ears. Abay’s tender vocals mix perfectly with the song’s poignant melody, and they climax towards the end, with the subtle backing of a delightful chorale. The reflective and thought-provoking “Perpekto” is another classic: Although it’s backed by wonderfully melodic and gentle music, the lyrics are what really get you, as it explores the imperfections brought about by our humanity – something everyone can relate to, and something everyone can transcend.


These songs, the two highlights of the album, are the best examples of how Dong Abay’s sound has evolved through Yano, through Pan, and into dongabay. Of course, there are still marks of brilliance brought about by shades of the old Dong. “Bombardment” and “Akrostik” - with their simplistic (although very witty) lyrics, wild guitar shredding and frantic pacing - are effective counterpoints to the rest of the album, while not straying from the record’s overall mood.”


A good deal of Abay’s other offerings on Flipino are the product of a critical mind and an observant eye, churned out via vivid commentary. Ultimately, they play out like a Lino Brocka film: As shown by the tragic events narrated on “Awit Ng Kambing” and the picture of poverty painted by “Ay Buhay”, which are just samples of the albums’ impressions of everyday life. However, now more than ever, the material brought about by Dong Abay is as much inward looking as outward. Much of the album also dwells on personal reflection with songs like “Kukote” and “Aba-Aba”. The focus and the heat is not solely on others anymore; rather, there is a humble realization of the self – being a Being (ha. more philo).


And then of course, who could live without a classic love tune? “Dyad” is personally a track that didn’t immediately stand out in the same way as I immediately loved “Perpekto” and “Mateo Singko”, but over the course of continually listening to the record, it has become a favorite. It has the same melodic accessibility as the Yano hit “Esem”, and the lyrical charm of “Senti”, which also came from the same Yano album, but in the context of the rest of the album, the song comes across in a more gentle manner than its predecessors.


At the end of the day, what separates the songs here to the rest of the songs that we usually hear on the radio and what we hear on the records that have been coming out, is that Flipino maintains a level of authenticity and sincerity – two things that seem to have been lost amidst the chaos of the music scene. Dong Abay sings, and we listen. Then we think, and we understand, then finally carry it on with us.


The gunfire, the noise and downright craziness of today’s world does make it harder to hear; but once in a while, the human voice does stand out. Once in a while, a masterful work of word and melody comes our way and makes itself heard: The human voice, armed with the power of prose and music, makes its way over all other noises… and invades the depths of human consciousness.


There is a popular train of thinking that revolves around the thought that “A diamond is a chunk of coal that is made good under pressure.” As of now, even though he may play as just a footnote of the current scene in the long run, Dong Abay is one of the brightest diamonds that we have in the music industry, and he sparkles brightly in Flipino.

For those who grew up, er, rather, begin and end their sentences with lots of "hal-lers" and "duh," Yano is the enfant terrible rock trio in the 1990s, which epitomized what alternative music was. Their massively embraced "Kumusta Na," "Senti," "Tsinelas," "Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo," "Trapo," and "Es-Em," among the many witty socio-politically-inclined hits had helped balance the status quo equally dominated by the teenybopper tongue-and-cheek ditties of the Eraserheads and the "angstified" hollow bone-marrow sound of "Wolfgang."

The pitfalls of fame and relentless cash flows, the pressure to stay at the top, the monster that was the music industry itself sent Dong to a major burnout. Yano folded up, luckily just in time when the boy-band era barged in.

Doing a self-exile in his own bedroom during the entire duration when actor Joseph Estrada was President – by sheer coincidence as he suffered major depression – Dong Abay re-emerged from his private hell with Pan sometime early 2002, releasing its debut album Parnaso Ng Payaso. In the songs "Dumpsite," "Huling Hiling," "Kahimanawari," and "Rebolusyon," the signature Dong Abay sarcastic social-realist touch was still there, albeit fresher in approach and more positive thematically. There are even the likes of "Gusto," a catchy masterpiece of a rock ballad perfectly tackling incompatibility between, uh, lovers. More so, Dong already has a supportive wife and a "mini-me" named Awit.

A year later, Pan was disbanded after a less-publicized disagreement with the record producer. Dong went back to UP Diliman, where Yano was born, to finish his long-overdue college degree.

"I was on my third year in 1994, fine arts, major in visual communication when I left UP to go full-time with Yano. I went back in 2003. I chose AB Philippine Studies, major in Creative Writing, minor in Art Studies. I was out of school for nine years and it was good to be back where everything started," he says in his fast-paced manner of speaking.

Conversely, his thesis initially titled "The Essential Dong Abay" before he finally settled for "Papel (Paper)" was focused on those tumultuous years when he was a full-time musician. The discourse centered on the ups-and-downs in the predatory Philippine music industry, tackling how too much commercialism can destroy the musicians themselves. In a rare solo exhibit-cum-performance at the UP Diliman early 2005, Dong the graduating college student displayed photocopies of documents, receipts, certificates, news and magazine articles, original posters and album covers, everything that was on paper related to his Yano and Pan years.

Teary-eyed before his classmates and newfound friends, most of them 10 years his junior, he confessed in Filipino, "I don’t need these (pointing to his paper exhibit) to be happy. Look what I had gone through. Look what it did to me. For those of you who want to form a band, be a solo singer or do anything related to getting into the mainstream music industry, think twice. Here I am. Still recuperating from the abuses. Learn from my experience. "

That time, talking to Dong would mean hearing lots of regrets – why his past and recent albums weren’t that well promoted, always taking a backseat from the more profitable Sex Bomb Dancers and other novelty acts. On another occasion, indignant, he blurted out, though alcohol-driven, why he – despite his dedication to his craft, the social relevance and maturity in his compositions – is still riding tricycles and jeepneys while Chito Miranda (of Parokya Ni Edgar) is reportedly buying brand new cars every month and has a showbiz lady for a girlfriend.

"But it’s not the commercial benefit of it all, or the rock-star lifestyle I am after. I was never after that rock-star lifestyle. Being chased by groupies. Sa United States lang uso yan. I did not grow up in a macho culture. I’m just after the respect, my due as musician, pare."

In between classes, Dong tried his hand doing installation art. His works made out of metal scraps and paper mache were exhibited in some lesser-known group shows held in alternative art galleries, mostly in Quezon City.

He had written poems in Filipino, more than enough to fit in a book. Even when there was Pan, he read those verses willingly in between songs, especially whenever guitarist Onie Badiang broke a string and took some time to replace it, or, after the band’s final set and members of the audience shouted for more.

Sans the music, Dong’s verses on their own can stir one’s emotion, though they’re far from being emotional. If he’s in the right mood, he will recite more than a dozen.

His fascination for poetry also brought him to compose music for the classic works of Filipino poets starting from those written by Francisco Balagtas, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Lope K. Santos to contemporary ones like "Liham ng Ama Sa Anak," by Jose "Pete" Lacaba. He had written more than 80 songs of this type.

Dong Abay the band has bass player Jing Gadi, drummer Allan Quimto, lead guitarist Mark Villena. All auditioned for the part.

In his latest gigs at Magnet Katipunan, one can see in him the contagious energy and enthusiasm of a bandleader who’s just starting for that ultimate dream in bagging a record deal.

Why he keeps on coming back despite countless declarations of throwing in the white towel is not a mystery. "It’s the only thing I know and what I love to do. It’s just but sad that gigs are not that regular. I might teach next semester at the UP about songwriting. I have a family to support now. Pero iba pa rin if I am performing live. Gusto ko nga every night. Bread and butter ko pa rin dapat is my music."

And many would agree that getting him for regular gigs or any worthwhile projects like, ahem, commercial endorsements, can also mean helping a gem in the Philippine music industry, whose luster will never fade as long as there are serious listeners out there.