How Jessie plays it by 'an ear'

If you ask me why Jessie Lasaten makes such beautiful music, I'd tell you that it's because he has an ear for it -- literally. I mean, Jessie has only one good ear, the right one, having been born partially deaf, a hereditary disability that has also afflicted his sister and some other relatives.

That's what Jessie, one of the country's finest musical scorers, has in common with Rory B. Quintos (who's also deaf in left ear), director of Star Cinema's forthcoming blockbuster, the Vilma Santos starrer Anak intended for release on Mother's Day (May 10), for which Jessie has composed an instrumental theme song entitled Josie's Theme (named after the character of Vilma, a domestic helper in Hong Kong) and a musical score with a 14-member string orchestra (violins, guitars, piano, cello, etc.) doing variations of Freddie Aguilar's world-famous song Anak.

"I'm glad and grateful that the Star Cinema people approved the budget for Anak's musical score," said Jessie, without mentioning what the (must be big) budget was. "Anak is a big movie and it deserves a musical score of the same magnitude."

Only in his late 20s, Jessie is the resident musical director of ABS-CBN's post-production company RoadRunner Network, Inc. and head of the same company's Music and Sound Gallery (MSG). He brings into his job a wealth of experience, not to mention a load of talent, in scoring for commercial jingles (dozens and dozens of them) including those for the ABS-CBN Christmas TV ad campaign and the new catchy PLDT 7 Notes (you dial seven numbers to connect to somebody, don't you?) jingle.

He graduated summa cum laude from the Berklee School of Music with a degree in Film Scoring and Commercial Arranging, elevating him to the rank of very few Filipinos who have graduated with honors (among them is Lea Salonga's younger brother Gerard, also summa cum laude) from that prestigious school (other graduates include Louie Ocampo, Archie Castillo, Jerdi Francisco and Hajji Manalo).

"As far as I can remember," recalled Jessie (who has to turn his right ear to you to hear you better), "I've always loved music and movies. At 14, I sat transfixed in the darkness of a moviehouse, mesmerized by the overwhelming musical scoring of Star Wars. That was in 1978. Since then, the Star Wars music has been playing and replaying in my mind. It has become not only the music but the movie in my mind."

At Berklee, Jessie's ear for music was honed further, sharper.

"I remember that one of the musical scorings that we discussed extensively was that of To Kill a Mockingbird. In that movie, there are four major characters and a different musical instrument was used for each character -- vibraphone for the character of Robert Duval, clarinet for the kiddie characters, flute for another character and wood winds for the rest of the characters. The use of each musical instrument is relevant to the nature of each character."

Jessie adopted the same concept for Anak (a poignant story of a domestic helper who, after working for 10 years in Hong Kong, comes home to find her home and her family in shambles, seeing her dreams crumbling like a sand castle). For the character of Vilma (the mother), Jessie uses a violin and for that of Claudine Barretto (the daughter), a cello.

Anak is, of course, made even more moving by the haunting melody of Aguilar's Anak which has taken on a new meaning vis-a-vis the movie's story which many Filipino families will surely identify with.

A veteran of more than 50 movie musical scores, Jessie didn't allow his disability to get in the way of his dream. If Beethoven who was totally deaf didn't, why should Jessie? He could wear a hearing aid, but Jessie would rather not. "I would have to be equipped with a 120-decibel hearing aid for me to hear normally with my left ear when normal people require no more than 20 decibels. I was born with only one good ear and I couldn't tell the difference if I had two good ears."

Jessie was in Grade 3 when he realized that he was partially deaf.

"The sound was louder on my right side," he said, "and there was hardly any sound on my left side. And then I discovered that my playmates had two normal ears but it didn't make any difference at all anymore. I could still hear and that was good enough for me."

After finishing elementary school and high school at the St. Louis University in Baguio City, Jessie took up a course in Political Science in the same school, formally resuming his romance with music only when he went to Berklee.

"Musical scoring is an art by itself," Jessie stressed, "and many people don't know it."

Back home from Berklee, Jessie embarked on a career as a musical scorer for commercial jingles, finishing as many as 15 jingles a month. A year later, in 1994, he branched out into movie musical scoring, encouraged by Dodie Lucas (managing director of RoadRunner) whom Jessie met by chance at a jingle store in Makati. It was Nonoy Tan who referred Jessie to OctoArts Films where Jessie had his debut in the controversial movie Loretta ("The one involved in the filmfest scam," said Jessie).

"I see to it that I read the script before I compose the musical score," added Jessie. "The musical scoring should be relevant to the story and the characters."

Most of his musical scores were for films by direk Chito Roño (Separada; Nasaan ang Puso; Dahas; Bata, Bata, Paano Ka Ginawa?; Patayin sa Sindak si Barbara; and the forthcoming Laro sa Baga). "Direk Chito understand musical scoring," said Jessie who has, so far, won some awards (a FAMAS for the 1996 drama Wanted: Perfect Mother and a Metro Filmfest trophy for Nasaan ang Puso?).

Married to Emily Rimando with whom he has two kids (Patricia, 4; and Bernadette, seven months old), Jessie is the only one from the Lasaten clan who has an ear for music.

"I work better under pressure," said Jessie, "and faster, too. I can come up with a whole musical score in two hours if necessary."

Naming Enno Morricone as his favorite musical scorer, Jessie also enumerated his Top 3 favorites, to wit:

* Jingles -- Jollibee, McDonald's and Andok's

* Musical Scoring for Local Films -- Hihintayin Kita sa Langit, Kahapon .. May Dalawang Bata and Ang Lalake sa Buhay ni Selya, all by Ryan Cayabyab

* Movie Theme Songs -- How Do You Keep the Music Playing (by James Ingram), How Can I Not Love You (from Anna and the King) and How Do I Live Without You (from Con Air).

Asked to sing a line or two from any of the three songs, Jessie begged off.

"I can't sing," he smiled. "Wala ako sa tono."

Yes, he just has "an ear" for it.