The year in C major

MANILA, Philippines - 2014 was a year-long musical celebration as the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), musicians and audiences feted composer-conductor-music man extraordinaire Ryan Cayabyab.

Hitting 60, however, is not bringing Cayabyab even a step closer to retirement. “There are many music concepts in my head that motivate me to make more music and I want to try them out as much as I can,” he shares.

“There are many ideas to explore,” he adds. “Some of them are a bit complicated – like having a hundred thousand Filipino choral singers perform in one mega-opus. To gather even just a fourth of that would be logistically insane. But we are all free to dream.”

Many musical dreams have already come true for Cayabyab, who is a driving force behind OPM music, from classic pop songs to significant theater works, which were the products of collaborations between Cayabyab and many equally renowned Filipino artists.

Among his many collaborations are Rama Hari with Alice Reyes (National Artist for Dance), Bienvenido Lumbera (National Artist for Literature), and Salvador Bernal (National Artist for Theater and Design); Spoliarium with Fides Asencio; Misa 2000 with Douglas Nierras; Katy with Jose Javier Reyes; Noli Me Tangere the Musical with Lumbera and Nonon Padilla; Magnificat with Nestor Torre; and La Revolucion Filipina or just La Rev with Agnes Locsin and Dennis Marasigan, which was restaged last year as part of “Mr. C at 60.”

“I really can’t say I have a personal favorite,” Cayabyab admits when asked to list his favorite works thus far. “I try not to listen to my music after it is done, performed or recorded. Anything that is in its final state is well… final. We can’t change it.”

However, he adds, “If the music I have done has existed for quite some time – like a decade or so – I can listen to it again with a smile on my face – because it would remind me of my state of being during that period of time. Like perhaps now I can appreciate Spoliarium, the opera I collaborated with Tita Fides. That premiered in 2003. Or Rama Hari the ballet that premiered in 1980, or La Rev the ballet that premiered in 1997.”

Mr. C also mentors the Ryan Cayabyab Singers, a group similar to his highly successful Smokey Mountain, which was popular in the early 90’s.

Kicking off the celebration in May was a grand gathering of talents to perform some of the maestro’s greatest hits in a concert at the CCP Main Theater aptly dubbed “The Music of Ryan Cayabyab.”

Among those who performed were Kuh Ledesma, Basil Valdez, Celeste Legaspi, Ogie Alcasid, Piolo Pascual, Martin Nievera, and the ABS-CBN Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Gerard Salonga.

The night was filled with familiar tunes by Mr. C, including a medley from the musical Katy, and Smokey Mountain’s popular Paraiso, this time performed by the Ryan Cayabyab Singers.

In July, Ballet Philippines restaged Agnes Locsin’s La Revolucion Filipina, with libretto by Dennis Marasigan and music by Cayabyab. The ballet was originally staged in the late 1990s as part of the Philippine Centennial Celebration, while the recent performance coincided with the 150th birth anniversary of Apolinario Mabini, as well as Cayabyab’s 60th.

“Conversing with Mr. C” as well as the Hands-on Choral Workshop in October allowed fans and aspiring musicians to interact and spend invaluable time with the maestro.

“I am still waiting for the muse so I can start writing a major piano work, unfortunately I haven’t been writing as much as I want to,” Cayabyab says, despite his already formidable body of work.

He adds that his focus has shifted in the recent years from composing to being involved in several music education-based advocacies together with various foundations.

Together with the TaosPuso Foundation of the Tao Corporation, Cayabyab helped establish the Elements Music Camp, an annual gathering of professional songwriters who mentor 60 budding singer-songwriters from all over the country. “They are brought to Dumaguete, all expenses paid, to take part in a 5-day immersion and training camp,” Cayabyab says.

Recently concluding it’s 5th camp, 240 young singer-songwriters have taken part in this dream camp to date.

Cayabyab also furthers his advocacy of supporting talented songwriters through the Philpop Musicfest Foundation. He shares, “With the Philpop Musicfest Foundation, established with the help of the MVP Group of companies, we have resurrected the annual songwriting competition reminiscent of the Metropop of yore.”

Aside from mounting the song competition – which, in three years, has gathered some 9,000 new, original songs – workshops are also held through the foundation, with Cayabyab and the finalists traveling around the country, enticing young songwriters to start writing songs.

“I prepare a workshop for beginners with a Q and A after, and the finalists answer most of the queries from young and old enthusiasts. A total of about 10,000 students attended our workshops last year, after visiting a number of cities nationwide,” he says.

Cayabyab also runs his eponymous music school in partnership with the Smart PLDT Foundation and One Meralco Foundation. “We have a growing community of contemporary a cappella singers,” he shares – a community which he is nurturing through the National Akapela Open, which will had its second run last year.

“The finals staged at the Meralco theater saw four groups from Mindanao, three groups from NCR, and one group each from Bulacan and Baguio competing in the finals,” Cayabyab says of the first Akapela Open in 2013.

Aside from the contest, he also holds workshops for a cappella groups. “So far, we have visited Baler, Angeles, Manila, Dumaguete and Davao, staging lecture-workshops in contemporary and a cappella arranging and performance and encouraging youth groups to explore this type of group singing,” he reports.

Despite all these, Cayabyab says his to-do list has not waned. “The list is long: several new musicals, more collaborations with creative artists, some concertos or new musical forms, some symphonic works, new song cycles for our outstanding classical singers, new pop songs,” he says, adding, “If I can still compete with the younger writers!”

“OPM is doing well. We just need to revitalize the industry so that musicians, creative and performing artists, as well as industry workers may have good paying jobs,” Cayabyab says.

“OPM is alive and pulsating. Songwriters are writing new and better songs,” he adds. “However, the industry is still groping in the dark for a new business model to latch on to. With the onset and advancement of technology, the industry was almost wiped out – because of rampant illegal downloading. We still do not know what direction to take. But I am optimistic that the industry will bounce back – and we will reward the Filipino artist what is due us.”

Indeed, there is much to look forward to in the coming years for Cayabyab, and for the Filipino music scene that he has been nurturing throughout his career.