THE PERFORMING SONGWRITER: An introduction

hello everyone!

hope you’re having a wonderful summer! i’d like to thank spenz for posting. am glad you enjoyed the set at shang last time!

had a chat last night with musicians bopsy sorioso (formerly of sipol) and jimmmy bondoc, who owns musikero cafe near timog. bopsy is a good friend from way back in high school; he’s put in a good word for me that’s why jimmy’s now booking me to play at his cafe. i can go on about bopsy’s guitar-playing prowess and how wonderful his original compositions are, but i’m writing about jimmy in particular to acknowledge the power of musicians helping one another and introduce to the local scene the concept of the performing songwriter. jimmy is the sole owner of his cafe and is the endorser of behringer products. he has found himself a good way to live his life in music, no doubt propelled by his commercial success. but he is doing it in a way to foster a sense of community among fellow musicians. i mean this guy doesn’t know me from eve, but he called me up, forgot that thousands of girls find him adorable, and reached out to a fellow musician. his openness is what startled me.

of course there were others before jimmy. cynthia alexander, joey ayala, noel cabangon, gary granada and the Conspiracy group have all welcomed performing songwriters into the fold because they are performing songwriters themselves. cynthia has been booking artists like myself to play at C, which is an amazing honor! there’s an awesome sense of affirmation going on at a C gig, when cynthia or bayang barrios or mike villegas drops in on you and hollers a line or two. A performing songwriter is a rarity in our music scene, because there’s this really sad perception that filipinos already have enough of music, so why make more? and then when it happens to have tagalog lyrics they won’t play it at seattle’s best katipunan (although the staff there - at my behest, being a performing songwriter customer, did play the rest of my first all-original EP except for my one Tagalog song, which is really sad, like WHY????, but these cafes would play brazilian bossa nova, wouldn’t they?). and that it’s JUST music, it won’t change the world (and it won’t)…but to quote filmmaker david puttnam: “the effect of that drip, drip, drip, that daily diet of views and ideas that adhere to and promote what’s best in society — that has an effect…not one movie, not one article, not one building, but just the fact that all of us buckle down and try to do better. and be better.” amen!

and the idea being: to be a performing songwriter is a good way to live your life. eventhough at this point in our local history it’s not the most financially rewarding, performing your own material is becoming a legitimate career option. it’s an exciting time to be a performing songwriter in this country, especially with people like cynthia and jimmy opening doors. still, you have to work hard and earn your way just to get to that door, like all careers require. performing songwriters who are filipino and live here have a distinct advantage in that they know what’s going on here and can articulate it for the rest of the world through their original compositions, because the world is down for a more local approach to the global. they win their audiences because they are themselves the audience. everything and everyone is related. ang lahat ng bagay ay magkaugnay, to quote our beloved songwriter joey ayala.

i’ve thrown away the concept of performing songwriters being “self-indulgent” long ago. i believe the personal is the political, and it takes tremendous courage to wear your heart on your sleeve. you become so vulnerable, yet so powerful. let’s sing our heart out - because everyone’s heart matters! 

of course there will always be a bit of self-interest involved, because musicians do have to make a living after all, and the cafe needs its diners. but the revenue from this kind of business is so small that i wonder about its logic sometimes. people come in and order a beer, and maybe some pulutan if you’re lucky, then stay for the night! how do you earn? it’s become a cliche, but it holds a basic truth that my own life these days has proven: it’s not just about the money. you wonder about how some songs you love to listen to over and over, and that drip, drip, drip going on…and you learn about the life of these songwriters and discover such vast reserves of integrity, humility and patience, that almost bemused disregard for the bottom line not because they’re not hungry literally but because they’re not hungry for whatever is just immediately apparent. this doesn’t mean they’re impervious to weakness - some do get greedy, because (i’m guessing)  they are not assured that a steady stream of opportunity is forthcoming and will come their way again. this presupposes a lack of confidence in themselves, which most of the performing songwriters i admire thankfully do not have. they are the most ebullient, witty, kindest, most hard-working people you’ll ever meet in your life and i am proud to be in their company and i hope patrons and supporters reading this will come out of the woodwork and express their support more. listen to their own material - you might find some of it actually directly speaking to your soul, in your own language. i have and was changed enough to write mine.