Dannyka Manangan

EXCLUSIVE: Raymond Lauchengco launches his new book: ‘Making art was my way of surviving’

Article (news)

Rhea Manila Santos

Push Team

<p>With preparations for his upcoming 60th birthday concert <em>Everybody Loves Raymond</em> now in full swing, Raymond Lauchengco gives his fans one more thing to get excited about as the event also serves as the official launch of his new book “Dance With the Wind” which he wrote during the pandemic. </p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-7" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQ_ggLpDwLU/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A7%2C%22os%22%3A3726178.6000000006%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="925" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-7" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>“I still can’t believe it. If someone had told me years ago that I would have my own book by 60, I would have stared at them in disbelief. Yet here it is,“ said Raymond. </p><p>He recalled writing it during the pandemic and how the bleak situation also served to awaken the potential in many. “This is a side of me that needed desperately to survive the pandemic. The thing about the pandemic is, as dark as a time it was for all of us, perhaps, it was also a period of great light in the sense that it brought out things in us we did not even know were there. We became poets and painters and bakers and cooks and online talk show hosts. Everybody had a talk show, all of us had something online, &#x27;di ba? Plantitos, plantitas. It brought out things that we never knew we had inside us,” he shared with PUSH ABS-CBN in an exclusive interview. </p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-8" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQvJWr9D3Ft/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A8%2C%22os%22%3A3726211.9000000004%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="881" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-8" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>The former <em>Bagets</em> star also explained how his book came to fruition during a time when the world seemingly stood still. “Making art was my way of surviving. You know, in a span of two weeks, my wife got sick, my sister got sick, I lost my father, and then I lost every single job I had lined up in a span of two weeks. And at the height of my stress, at the height of my worry because I didn&#x27;t know how I was going to feed my family, at the height of my worry, a voice inside me said ’go outside, make something’. As crazy as that suggestion seemed, I decided to go for it. I went outside with my hammer, a rusty saw, a couple of chisels, and I started working with my hands, anything I could find, just turning it into something else. And by the end of the day, I would look at what I made, and I would feel so much peace and so much fulfillment that I had made something from scratch. Plus, guess what? I was so exhausted, I had no more energy to worry. I couldn&#x27;t worry anymore because I was so tired. I did that seven days a week for two and a half years. And aside from that, I wrote. It wasn&#x27;t the first time in my life to write, but I was writing practically every day. And I wanted — I needed desperately — to write things that were encouraging and uplifting, because I felt I was being pulled down by all of this negativity and fear,” Raymond recalled. </p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-9" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DQk_r_Sjw8I/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A9%2C%22os%22%3A3726238.1000000006%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="881" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-9" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px"></iframe><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>The <em>Everybody Loves Raymond</em> concert singer admitted that he started writing in order to inspire and motivate himself and others in the process. “Little did I know that it would resonate with other people, na they would find inspiration in it. Because the only way to communicate at that time was through social media. So, I would photograph my work, I would put out what I wrote about it, and say an essay about a certain piece, and it would resonate. And so, I said, amazing how here I am, I&#x27;m trying to encourage myself, but other people are finding encouragement as well. Sabi ko, this is really amazing. And now, who would have known — how many years has it been since the pandemic? So, three years later, who would have known that there was a book?”</p><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><iframe class="instagram-media" id="instagram-embed-10" src="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQskyw7j2kb/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=540&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A10%2C%22os%22%3A3727377.1000000006%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="0" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-10" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px;min-width:326px;padding:0px;position:absolute"></iframe><blockquote class=" instagram-media-registered" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQskyw7j2kb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" id="instagram-media-payload-10" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15);margin:1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQskyw7j2kb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank"><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;align-items:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:40px;margin-right:14px;width:40px"><br/></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:100px"><br/></div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:60px"><br/></div></div></div><div style="padding:19% 0"><br/></div><div style="display:block;height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px"><br/></div><div style="padding-top:8px"><div style="color:#3897f0;line-height:18px">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding:12.5% 0"><br/></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:row;margin-bottom:14px;align-items:center"><div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(0px) translateY(7px)"><br/></div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;height:12.5px;transform:rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px);width:12.5px;flex-grow:0;margin-right:14px;margin-left:2px"><br/></div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;height:12.5px;width:12.5px;transform:translateX(9px) translateY(-18px)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:8px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:50%;flex-grow:0;height:20px;width:20px"><br/></div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:2px solid transparent;border-left:6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom:2px solid transparent;transform:translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)"><br/></div></div><div style="margin-left:auto"><div style="width:0px;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(16px)"><br/></div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;flex-grow:0;height:12px;width:16px;transform:translateY(-4px)"><br/></div><div style="width:0;height:0;border-top:8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left:8px solid transparent;transform:translateY(-4px) translateX(8px)"><br/></div></div></div><div style="display:flex;flex-direction:column;flex-grow:1;justify-content:center;margin-bottom:24px"><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;margin-bottom:6px;width:224px"><br/></div><div style="background-color:#F4F4F4;border-radius:4px;flex-grow:0;height:14px;width:144px"><br/></div></div></a><div style="color:#c9c8cd;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DQskyw7j2kb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank">A post shared by Raymond Lauchengco (@raymondlauchengco)</a></div></div></blockquote><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>Apart from being able to maximize his creativity while the country was on lockdown, Raymond said he was also able to amplify his faith. “You know, God is amazing. The things that he can use. I just wanted to cheer myself up. I just wanted to keep myself busy. I just wanted to forget all the troubles that we were all going through. And I just wanted to fulfill this dream of making things with my hands. Who would have known? It was a voice that came out and again, it has nothing to do with me. That&#x27;s what the times did to me. That&#x27;s what the pandemic brought out in me. I&#x27;m sure it brought out something in you, as it did for a whole lot of other people. But that&#x27;s what it brought out in me. When I look at these stories and see the pictures of the work that I made, I, I feel like, I feel almost like a different person. That was the person that came out during that time. It’s interesting. The things that you discover about yourself when your back is pushed against the wall. It&#x27;s amazing. When you ultimately try. For me, that was the joy of it talaga eh. You find something and you think, what can this become? Rock, broken piece of glass, felled portion of a tree. What can this become? And it&#x27;s not about what it is, but what it can become. That&#x27;s what kept me going. That&#x27;s what kept my head above the water. Thinking of a world that wasn&#x27;t broken. A world that was beautiful. Because there was so much disruption. You know, everything was broken during the pandemic. The world broke, &#x27;di ba? That&#x27;s what kept me going,” he said. </p><p>Raymond’s book “Dance With the Wind” is now available for pre-order at raymondlauchengco.com. Concertgoers who also pre-order the book or concert merchandise bundles will receive a free meet-and-greet pass after the show. Tickets are available online at ticketworld.com.ph.</p>

<p>Everybody Loves Raymond concert performer and former Bagets star Raymond Lauchengco talks about his new book, Dance With The Wind, which will be launched alongside his one-night only birthday concert on November 28 in Pasay City.</p>

Everybody Loves Raymond concert performer and former Bagets star Raymond Lauchengco talks about his new book, Dance With The Wind, which will be launched alongside his one-night only birthday concert on November 28 in Pasay City.