How Ryan makes people come together

"Music makes the people come together, yeah!" Madonna sings in the rousing title track of her best selling album Music, which is also the song that closes her sell-out Drowned World 2001 spectacle that will be available to cable TV subscribers this month.

No doubt, Ryan Cayabyab will agree.

After all, having been a music master around here for many years now – singer, songwriter, composer and conductor – he knows the power of music to touch and inspire across races and religions. This again became especially evident to him last year when he received word from the embassy of Greece that his sacred music composition Misa 2001 had won in the first-ever Onassis International Competition for Original Music Composition for Dance and Original Choreography, held by the Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation that regularly honors individuals and institutions for achievements that profoundly impact on modern society.

Although Ryan shared the Onassis honors with Christopher Lyndon-Gee from the United Kingdom, "that doesn’t make me feel any less thrilled about having won," says the multi-awarded Ryan who flew to Greece late last year to receive the award. "Being the only entry from the Philippines, you can’t imagine how much pride I felt – not only for myself but also for the rest of Filipinos."

Ryan was invited to stay in Greece beyond the awards ceremonies to partake of its seminal culture but the music man graciously begged off, well aware that pressing responsibilities awaited him in Manila, particularly as the executive and artistic director of the newly formed San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts. He assumed the position early last year and has since put together an orchestra and a chorale that he has been tirelessly rehearsing in preparation for their inaugural performance scheduled this month.

These past months have been a pretty nerve-wracking time, Ryan admits, "because it’s no joke to put together an orchestra and a chorale, especially given the fact that the foundation wants these to be comparable to the best not only here but also internationally. So throughout these past months, everybody had been hard at work rehearsing daily – but, of course, if you have a passion for music, all that work doesn’t seem like work at all. Being surrounded by music certainly has its rewards."

Surely, Ryan will feel doubly rewarded when the San Miguel Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Miguel Master Chorale finally take their bow in their inaugural performance at the Meralco Theater in Pasig City, after which "they will have a full schedule of performances." Says the Music Man, "The Orchestra and the chorale will be conducting a lot of free concerts and fund-raising performances in fulfillment of the foundation’s goal, which is to fund academic and community programs that will help spur the growth of and appreciation for the arts in the country."

Indeed, the art of music can only be regarded as being good for the soul – and Ryan Cayabyab, the internationally awarded music artist, provides living proof of this.

Gifts from the Romulos

The first presents I got this Christmas were from Mons Tantoco-Romulo and her sister Berna. Executive Sec. Bert Romulo and his wife, the lovely Lovely, must be very proud that they have raised beautiful human beings. Thanks you to the Romulo family and all my friends who remembered me by way of presents, text messages, phone calls, cards, this Christmas season. God bless us all.

Mons sent me a box of what appeared to me were different kinds of home-made soap bars. They also came in different shapes and scents. I initially thought that Mons had ventured into the soap business. I set the presents aside and went through the grueling, frenzied but fun Christmas schedule.

Just a couple of days before Christmas, I was looking for a bath soap as I had run out of my favorite Safeguard. Then I saw the box Mons sent me and what a discovery it was. This soap line or fresh hand made cosmetics is called Lush. And everything about Lush lives up to its name. I had to call Mons to find out where I could find Lush and she told me that the store was in Rockwell. I went there before New Year and got myself and my friends the best line of fresh handmade cosmetics, from bath gels (my favorite is Never Too Busy To Be Beautiful), to shampoos, deodorants, lotion, etc.

The yellow Lush bag also caught my fancy because on it is the creed of Lush. Read On.

A Lush Life

We Believe

...in making effective products out of fresh organic

fruit and vegetables, the finest essential oils

and safe synthetics, without animal

ingredients and in writing the quantitative list on the outside.

We also believe in buying only form

companies that test for safety without the

involvement of animals and in testing

our products on humans.

We believe in making our own fresh

products by hand, printing our own labels

and making our own fragrances.

We believe in long candlelit bath,

massage, filling the house with perfume

and in the right to make mistakes,

lose everything and start again.

We believe that our products should be good

value, that we make a profit

and that the customer is always right.

We also believe words like "fresh" and "organic"

have honest meaning beyond marketing.

Have a lushful life in 2002!