Joey Ayala live at 70s Bistro to be recorded for vinyl release

MANILA -- “Revolutions are pushed by personalities but they are made by people who are absolutely unknown names.”

This may sound like a quote from someone dead and great like Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio or an activist professor of history and political science.

We’re at the 70s Bistro on a recent Tuesday night and it was legendary folk musician, activist and environmentalist Joey Ayala who said that as part of the usual long intro before he and his band Ang Bagong Lumad (new native) performed the next song. This time, it was for “1896,” an original composition with the lyrics written by the late poet and visual artist Maningning Miclat.

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The more than three-decades old Ang Bagong Lumad’s most recent members are percussionist-vocalist Tapati Tarongoy, bassist-vocalist Yan Bagay-Cruz and two drummers, Chong Tengasantos and Joe O. Apilado.

The short, exclusive 70s Bistro gig was a sampler for an upcoming recording of his live show at the legendary bar to be released exclusively on vinyl by Eikon Records. If it sounds familiar, Eikon is the same indie label that also released the album of pioneering Pinoy rock group from the 1970s, Maria Cafra, titled “Gintong Musika at Panahon,” and the final album of APO Hiking Society recorded with the late Danny Javier singing with Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo, tentatively scheduled for release in November this year.

One can say “Joey Ayala Live at 70s Bistro” is a labor of love for the main man behind Eikon Records, the veteran sports columnist, music reviewer and business writer Rick Olivares.

Looking back, Ayala broke into the Filipino music lovers’ consciousness way back 1981 with the release of the-now iconic album, “Panganay ng Umaga.” Though the airwaves were dominated by ‘80s staples like new wave and glam rock, Ayala’s originals like “Agila” and “Wala Ng Tao Sa Sta. Filomena” easily penetrated the hearts of environmentalists, activists and the usual folk music-loving Pinoys.

It was with Ang Bagong Lumad in the 1990s when he came up with landmark albums like “Mga Awit Ng Tanod Lupa” “Magkabilaan” (recorded in Davao in 1987, released in Manila in 1991) and “Lumad Sa Syudad,” among others that made him a crowd favorite in live concerts and among the most requested local artists on FM radio.

In our personal recollection, we were in college and attending rock concerts in UP Diliman sunken garden, Amoranto Stadium, among other big open-air venues, when Ayala and Bagong Lumad would make people stand up and lit their lighters to sing the heart-wrenching “Walang Hanggang Paalam” and danced with “Karaniwang Tao,” “Tabi Po,” “Magkaugnay” and the iconic “Ani-Ana”.

Using Mindanao’s indigenous instruments like hegalong, kudyapi, kubing, agung, among others, blended with electric guitars and drums, Joey Ayala at Ang Bagong Lumad had a calming, almost transcendental effect on the crowd. Ayala was like a shaman on stage, churning out words of wisdom on being Filipino, on protecting the environment, on loving one’s heritage, basically the cycle of life and how humans alter it with destructive results.

Now in his mid-60s, capturing Ayala’s live performance for posterity is the next best thing to do.

Ayala told us there will be two nights of recorded shows at 70s Bistro on July 20 (Thursday), and August 15 (Tuesday), so as to have at least a choice to get the better versions. Tickets are being sold via Joey Ayala – Live Recording at 70s Bistro social media page.

“More or less, around 80 percent the same yan,” Ayala told ABS-CBN News when we asked him if he’s going to play the same set of songs.

“Around 20 songs. Or might not reach 20. How many do we usually use in a vinyl album? Or it could be a double album. Especially if you include the talking part. I tell stories a lot. I talk to the audience before singing,” he added, laughing.

“But I will talk and talk even if the talking part won’t make it to the album.”

He said there will be no guests but those who will watch can expect former Ang Bagong Lumad members like Bayang Barrios to appear and probably jam.

Like most artists, the three-year long series of lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic gave Ayala creative spaces to finish or polish some songs he wrote before March 2020. He also started composing new ones and being cocooned at home, he was able to finish them all.

For example, he told ABS-CBN News there’s a new piece he composed during the pandemic years that was his attempt on humor. It was about the government food assistance during the lockdowns, entitled “Instant Noodles and Rice.”

Another was titled “Dasal at Maskara” with the help of a cousin who is a nurse working in the US. “Pinasulat ko siya ng konting impressions [about the life of a medical worker] during the lockdowns.”

Before the pandemic, he finished “Good Boy,” which has an intriguingly delightful “inspiration.”

It came from a news on television about the blue-ribbon committee investigation on the corruption of government funds in a city somewhere in Metro Manila. The one being interviewed by the news crew was a vice mayor who was fluent in Tagalog.

“Native Tagalog speaker siya. Kapag nagsalita siya, may sukat at tugma (rhyme and meter), ang ganda pakinggan,” Ayala told ABS-CBN News. He gave a sampler, singing the song in a capella:

“May mamang dumating sa aming opisina,
May inabot na supot, punong puno ng kwarta,
Tanong ko, ‘san to galing, para po saan?’
Sagot nya, ‘huwag ka na,
magpa-good boy ka na lang.”

(There was a man who went to our office with a bag full of cash. I asked him, for what purpose? He told me to just accept it and be a good boy.)

“After I watched the news, I wrote the lyrics at once and I came up with a melody. It was fast,” Ayala said, laughing.

Another song was inspired by a National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) survey.

“Basically, the survey asked what are the desires of Filipinos? The results were house and lot, good education for their children, to go abroad and a new car,” said Ayala.

“Among the four, 'yung kotse ang pinaka-absurd. Imagine if all Filipinos own cars, grabe wala na talagang galawan (we’re going to be on a standstill on the streets), he said, laughing.

During the lockdown years, there was no opportunity to play these songs live or even online.

Unlike many who had weekly or monthly online shows in those three years, Ayala tried streaming only once.

“Once lang ako nag-FB live tapos 'di na ako umulit, nakaka-ilang 'yung walang tao tapos kausap mo cell-phone screen, nahihirapan ako (It felt awkward performing without a live audience in front of me and I was talking to a cellular phone screen. It was difficult for me.)”

All these songs have been recorded in his home studio. He said some have rough edges and needed revisions and trimmings before he performs them in a live show.

“I am thankful one of my high school dreams I have fulfilled. That is, to own a home recording studio,” he said.

As much as possible, Ayala tried to be updated with developments in technology. He’s been so into it he has learned how to use artificial intelligence (AI).

“If not, you will be left behind. I know some friends who didn’t even have an email address, eh 'yung email address luma na nga 'yun eh,” he said, laughing.

“Kapag hindi ka matuto, or mag-blend with new developments, AI will take over. So I studied how to blend. Lately, I want to sign up as a new volunteer with ChatGPT. Because AI rendered so many things obsolete. Like copyright for example. 'Yan ang repercussions. It’s also alarming. So para makinabang ka rin, you integrate.”

He mentioned a popular American rap artist who tried recording new songs using AI and the fans loved them. “Kasi this rap artist has aged and the AI recording has his voice when he was young.”

“Then again, it’s not for everyone. It’s possible AI may ruin somebody else’s life. But still, pag-aralan na 'yung technology.”

Rest assured, Ayala said his new songs or recordings won’t use AI.

“Kaya nga yung album project na to, live at the 70s Bistro, di ba?” he said, laughing.

Since live shows have opened, Ayala has been around performing in bars and concerts. In April this year, he and his band performed live music in the re-staging of “Encantada,” the landmark original ballet by National Artist for Dance Agnes Locsin.

• National Artist Agnes Locsin's 'Encantada' set to return to stage

In the two live shows at 70s Bistro, Ayala said expect the staple “Karaniwang Tao,” “Walang Hanggang Paalam,” and all the hits he’s done since the 1980s up to recent years.

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As a bonus portion, in a much-earlier online conversation, Ayala told us how he came up with his most popular ballad, “Walang Hanggang Paalam.”
Here are excerpts:

Q: You mentioned the song, “Walang Hanggang Paalam” was about a lot of things. One was about your sentiments on the death of Ninoy Aquino and another was the anxiety of being away from loved ones. Sir, do you remember the particular month and year you composed the song?

Ayala: “Sometime August or September in 1983, right after Ninoy was assassinated... I don’t recall slaving over either the words or the music. This is one of those ‘channeled’ songs.”

Q. Maraming migrant Filipinos na nakaka-relate pero when you wrote the lyrics, was it about OFWs po ba or in general lang?

Ayala: “Personal sentiment lang talaga.”

Q: With “Walang Hanggang Paalam” as part of your "Magkabilaan" album in 1991, if it's OK to ask, what was happening in your life back then? Given the alternative band scene was about to become bigger that time because of the Eraserheads mania. You were based in Davao po ba and you just go to Manila to record and perform?

Ayala: “’Magkabilaan’ was recorded in Davao in 1987. Universal-WEA released it in 1991. The songs were written from 1982 or 1983 up to 1987. Davao-based pa ako all the while. I got to perform at the Vancouver Folk Festival in 1986. I had two sons, Jaku, who was born in 1980 and Jed, born in 1985. I had a job and left it, moved out of my in-laws’ home and moved back again. All the while the paranoia of the times was so strong that I was dreaming of ambushes and assassinations.”

Q: “I remember hearing “Walang Hanggang Paalam” in an Aga Muhlach-Lea Salonga film in 1995 titled "Sana Maulit Muli." The was a scene in a folk house and it was you singing. Was it your first time to appear in a film? Paano po kayo napapayag?”

Ayala: “I was in a rush to go back to Davao because my brother was in the hospital but the temptation to do something I had never done before was too great so I stayed an extra day and got Aga’s autograph as requested by my brother. By the time I got back to Davao, my brother David had passed away so I just put the autograph in his coffin and cried.”

Q: What can you say to the interpretations done by Lea Salonga and Ice Seguerra?

Ayala: “I’ve always preferred listening to female vocalists and these two are… it’s not a verbal thing. Some songs I write with a female voice in my head. I had a cassette recording of a show I did in the early 1980s and when I listed to the recording, there was a female voice singing along with me with a higher harmonic."