A second dose of 'H.O.P.E.'

Around this time last year, Pinky Tobiano approached me, talking about a “pipe dream” she had of creating a CD of music that would be of some kind of aural panacea for those who were in need of healing and comforting. A thyroid cancer victim, and with her own mother also struck by cancer, Pinky would recount about how lonely she would feel during her treatments and in the hospital waiting rooms, how the silence would be so intimidating, leaving one with thoughts of dreaded mortality. During moments such as those, it was music that would come to her mind, how the overbearing atmosphere could be lifted, even if only to a small degree, if there was music “in the air.” From this conversation, the first H.O.P.E. CD (Healing of Pain and Enlightenment) was born, as Malou Santos, Annabelle Regalado-Borja and Star Records got solidly behind the “pipe dream” and made it a reality. A couple of months ago, Pinky gave checks of P500,000 each to I Can Serve and Bosom Buddies, two outreach organizations that deal with breast cancer awareness and out-patient support — these were the proceeds of the sales of the CD. With cuts from Jose Mari Chan, the Company, Jamie Rivera, then practically unknown Charice Pempengco, and so on, the CD was comfort music serving a wonderful concern.

The dream doesn’t end there, and a H.O.P.E. 2008 CD will be out soon. This time, Pinky has a formidable collaborator in the person of Lorna Tolentino. The two met, and as things worked out, they found a lot of common ground. What Lorna had undergone being there for late husband Rudy Fernandez made her more than sympathetic to what Pinky was trying to achieve with her CDs. Whether as one who has been struck down with cancer, or there as the support group for a loved one who has to handle the dreaded C, there is music, of a particular nature, that can help soothe the passage of time and alleviate the dire circumstances one is undergoing. The line-up for this year’s edition, sub-titled Wings of the Soul, will naturally have artists pitching in their services in the name of Rudy’s memory. Close friends have expressed unreserved enthusiasm to be counted and participate, and a late October/November release is now slated for the CD. As with the first CD, one can anticipate a lot of good music and musical surprises, all for a good cause. Star Records has a deep regard for the project, and as line producers, have carefully selected the songs and assigned them to artists who will do supreme justice via their interpretations. Lorna and Pinky also have their say in the playlist, and some songs will hold special meaning for them.

This early, I’d like to recommend that people look out for this CD. It will make for an inexpensive Christmas gift that allows one to simultaneously help both Pinky and Lorna with their beneficiaries. Music has always been an integral part of the lives of most Filipinos, and it’s good to see the noble efforts of Pinky and Lorna be rewarded, something that’s in the hands of us, the buying public.

In their own ‘write’

Discovering new writers who are worth their weight in gold is always a pleasure. Today’s three novels are all by names that didn’t register when I came across them, but judging from the kind of buzz they’ve created, I figured it was high time I made their acquaintance — something I don’t regret.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (available at National Bookstore): This is one of those novels that you don’t really have much expectation for, and find yourself completely entranced by. Shaffer began this epistolary novel well in her years, and called on her niece (Barrows) when health issues arose. In fact, regrettably, Shaffer passed away earlier this year. The setting is 1946, right after the War, and journalist, Juliet Ashton, receives a letter from one Dawsey who lives in Guernsey, and has acquired a second hand book of Charles Lamb that used to belong to Ashton. Through letters that are exchanged, we learn about the Nazi Occupation of Guernsey, the lives and loves of the people there, and also follow Ashton’s own career path and love life — or lack of it. The protagonists are never less than fully sympathetic, and it’s amazing how rich and varied an assemblage of characters are put together through these letters. This is one novel with its heart proudly on its sleeve, one that deserves to be discovered!

The Angel Maker by Stefan Brijs (available at Fully Booked): Brijs is a Dutch writer, and writes about one Dr. Victor Hoppe, coming back to a small Belgian town near the borders of Germany and the Netherlands. He returns with baby triplets in tow, but no mother in sight, and this sets the town gossips speculating about why this would be so. Named Michael, Gabriel and Raphael (the three archangels), there is definitely something strange and unearthly about the boys. We are then treated to chapters that deal with Victor’s early life and how he was rejected by his own mother, and how his father, Dr. Karl Hoppe, tried to make up for this in his lifetime. There are also flashback chapters that reveal Victor at university, and his forays into embryology, and how the triplets came to be. There is always something sinister and surreal working as an undertow to this portrait of small town Europe; and our fears and discomfort are more than realized as we unearth the truth behind Dr. Hoppe and the triplets. A visceral, disturbing read that satisfies.

Submarine by Joe Dunthorne (available at Powerbooks): After JD Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye, it would take a thunderbolt from Heaven to come up with a coming of age novel that’s truly different; and yet it seems to be the one constant in most writers’ canon of works — to eke out their autobiography in the guise of a novel. So what one hopes for when coming across the genre, is a unique voice or sensibility that can make the novel still seem fresh and entertaining. Joe Dunthorne’s Submarine is small town Swansea, from the point-of-view of a 15-year-old narrator. He suspects his whole family of having various mental illnesses — himself included; and it’s hilarious how he creates a quiz and questionnaires for his parents to take. The impending break-up of his parents’ marriage and his own failed first relationship with a girl consumes the pages of his story. This may not be Holden Caulfield, but in Submarine, we also have a wry observer of adolescence and the world around him. There’s something peculiarly English Dysfunctional about this novel, and that’s a good thing.