Unscheduled Visit

March 20, 2009

I was late for the meeting. The time was set at 2:00 P.M. The original venue was at the Archbishop’s palace but was changed to Coffee Dream in Gorordo. I arrived at around 2:30 P.M. Sam Costanilla just left the venue for another meeting. It was Naila Ylaya-Beltran and my friend Jude who were still there. I ordered iced coffee and tried to catch up with what they were doing. The place is cozy but somehow lacks space. The meeting was only short, what made it longer were the sidelights and mixed-topic conversation we had. After that we decided to drop by the Archbishop’s palace to see Fr. Ting Anjacas for some matters regarding the production of the song. He arrived shortly after we did and the soft-spoken priest did his best to accommodate us. Fr. Ting had us seated in the reception lobby table and served us refreshments and we went down to the details about the song and its production. I am sure the priest noticed how hungry we were by the way how Jude and I downed our food. As we were talking and laughing, (Jude’s laughter echoing throughout the hall) we heard voices nearing our area. Fr. Ting whispered to us that the Cardinal is coming to our table. When His Emminence, Ricardo Cardinal Vidal appeared across our table, our mode suddenly shifted from impish to saintly. Fr. Ting introduced us to the Cardinal and informed His Emminence that we are the group directly involved in composing the 75th Archdiocese anniversary “Jubilee Song”. The Cardinal smiled and first thing he noticed about me is my size. We kissed his hands to pay our respect. After saying a short message, the Cardinal thanked us and excused himself; he had more appointments. We continued with our meeting for another few minutes then parted ways as well.

Theme Song for the 75th Anniversary of the Archdiocese of Cebu

March 16, 2009.The 75th anniversary of the Archdiocese of Cebu will be celebrated this year. This will be an historical event and a theme song is needed. I was one of the songwriters Naila Ylaya-Beltran invited. Naila is a music educator at the Cebu Normal University. I was informed that the Cardinal commissioned us to write the theme song for anniversary's Jubilee Song.. I was joined by Sam Costanilla, Jude Gitamondoc, Nino Banares and Naila Beltran at the Archbishop's Palace for a brain storming session on how to come up with the lyrics and tune for theme song. March 15, 8:00 AM Fr. Raul Go, parish priest of the San Nicolas Parish briefed us on the theme and essence of the song. He spoke briefly but concisely.After lunch, we went back to the room. At 1:00 PM Msgr. Rudy Villanueva arrived and shared to us his knowledge in songwriting. Msgr. Rudy's input and criticism were both essential in our learning and growing process. He was a bit serious with his tone and immediately gave his lecture on songwriting, citing various eras of music and style. He played the portable keyboard to demonstrate some of the songs. And before he ended, he played two of his favorite songs which was a Carpenters song and one I recognized as his own composition. After the brief lecture he sat down, the natural ambiance settled and the casual conversation began. After Msgr. Villanueva left we hit back to our unfinished lyric sheets. We were scheduled to stay overnight and continue the next day. The ambiance was relaxed and solemn. . The coffee and tea were continuously flowing. The almond nuts were crackling in our mouths as we were perusing over notes and key words. Without the nuts, the pencils would have been the victims. The seriousness and silence were often interrupted by the arguments as to which words appropriately fit. Laughter and jokes still fill the air. Sam Costanilla never runs out of jokes and punch lines fitting the occasion. It was literally a brainstorming session. We really wanted to beat the timetable to avoid staying overnight. Our teeth grinded the nuts harder than ever. So at nightfall we were able to come up with the lyrics. We then moved to a room where a Clavinova was available. Right there and then we worked on the melody. We started with the chorus, went up to the verses then to the bridge. It took us a few hours more until the melody was polished. There were glitches on the lyrics but was resolved after the usual arguing and antagonizing. It was really a collaborative effort. Fr. Ting Ancajas appreciated the song, Msgr. Dennis Villarojo liked the song and made some corrections with the lyrics, Msgr. Ilde Leyson made suggestions. We were informed that the song will be presented at the Cebu Cathedral for final critique. We called it a day, we checked our watches it was 10:00 PM and the song rested for that day as well