Website sa mga Sugbuanon Awit

Dunay reaksyon sa usa sa mga artikulo niining akong blog nga gusto nakong pasaw-an ninyo. Gikan ni ni Quirico Gorpido Jr. nga taga Maasin City Southern Leyte. Iningles ni pero masabtan man ang iyang punto. Ako lang ning gi-edit unya gipamub-an sad og gamay. Ang akong reaksyon sa sunod na lang.

Nia si Mr. Gorpido:

“I would like to get your attention to the pitiful situation in the Internet wherein one can’t find an active website about Cebuano/Visayan songs. Tagalog and people with similar fascination and inclination with music and songs have websites for their songs.

“Americans, British, Australians, etc. who are equally great singers and composers have plentiful websites. You can search for the songs or the lyrics of the songs of your favorite singers or bands in these websites. You can also get the backgrounds of your favorite singers or bands.

“Can we do the same thing if we want to know the songs and backgrounds of Cebuano/Visayan singers? No, we can’t!

“On the other hand, we are fond of singing Tagalog and English songs but we can rarely sing local compositions.Why? Because the lyrics of the Cebuano/Visayan songs that we used to sing have already been forgotten. And we have no website for the purpose.

“Cebuano or Visayan songs available in record stores are only collection albums. Music lovers, particularly the youth, know the singers of the songs they are singing, be they English or Tagalog. Ironically, they hardly know the local talents, except for Max Surban and Yoyoy Villame. Rarely do they know Jaime Salazar’s songs, for example, or other singers of Cebuano/Visayan standard love songs and ballads.

“Why can’t we have a display of the albums of popular Cebuano singers, among others, like Staks Huguete, Al Commendador, Serge de La Peña, Pauline Sevilla, Nora Hermosa, Jaime Salazar, Dos Compadres, Diomedes Maturan, Dulce, the popular Cebuano singers of the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s and the current popular ones?

“The names I mentioned are the singers of old Cebuano songs that are irreplaceable and timeless. Since their songs were pleasing to the ears of past generations, they surely are pleasing to the ears until this very day. As a music lover, I still love to listen to songs that I heard in my younger years, be they in Cebuano, English or Tagalog.

“If Cebuano musicians and composers can’t convince recording companies in Metro Manila to make available  Cebuano/Visayan songs of past popular singers, then it would be better if people in the music industry in the Visayas and Mindanao join hands in establishing a Cebuano/Visayan record company.

“We in Cebuano-speaking regions should also patronize our songs by buying them and playing them regularly in radio stations in the Visayas and Mindanao. Our disc jockeys have a big role in this kind of endeavor. It would be ridiculous if we can sing Tagalog and English songs but find it hard to sing our very own songs.

“In fact, some Visayan songs have a national and international appeal, the reason why they were adopted by some Tagalog composers. Example: “Kasadya Ning Taknaa” (“Ang Pasko Ay Sumapit”); “Sa Kabukiran” (the title of the Tagalog version is the same), etc.

“Again, we should make available Cebuano/Visayan songs in record bars and play these music regularly in radio stations side by side with English and Tagalog music. This must be pursued relentlessly and must be put into practice by those who have the means and the capability to execute them.

“A website of Cebuano/Visayan songs should also be linked to websites for, say, Waray-Waray songs, which would cater to music lovers in some areas of Leyte and Samar islands where Waray-Waray is the predominant language and Cebuano is the second language.”

Mao na ang opinyon ni Mr. Gorpido. Unsay inyong tan-aw?