Mr. Kawabe, from Tokyo, Japan, is all by himself sitting and dining. Then he requested 4 songs (assorted) and one of those is "Moon River". I've sung and played it to his delight and gave me $10.00 tip, get his whole name and address in Japan which I wrote on a piece of paper but lost it. (Gomen nasai).
(Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
MR. KAWABE FROM TOKYO, JAPAN
REQUESTED "MOON RIVER"
AT ABOUT 8pm on January 08, 2015, there's a lone Japanese guy who sat and dined at a table nearest of the entrance of Waves Restaurant of Palau Royal Resort.
Later, he asked for a piece of paper from Pam (new restaurant supervisor) and requested 4 songs (Japanese, American, Spanish) and one of those is Moon River, from the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" and one of the songs that I can play and sing as well.
Pam, middle, the new Restaurant Supervisor of Waves Restaurant of Palau Royal Resort and new Spa Manager Shirley of Mandara Spa pose for a photo session with Roberto on Jan. 07, 2015, a day before Roberto met Mr. Kawabe. (Photo by Roberto Hernandez)
Since Mr. Kawabe is close to me (about the same distance with a lone Japanese guy that gave me $200.00 tip for playing "Kawa No Nagareno Yo Ni" and "Subaru" which made him cry in March 2008), I sang the song a little louder so that he can hear that I can play and sing it at the same time.
All his requested songs I was able to play without looking at the song books. Moon River is one of the songs that was composed by Henri Mancini. I remember 33 years ago, a Filipino guy requested "songs by Henri Mancini". If you don't know Henri Mancini, how can you play his songs?
Since then, whenever I am hand-writing songs to my song books, I always make it sure to put the title, original singer, year of the song and composer/s of the song.
When I was requested by an American old guy the song from "Dr. Zhivago", I asked him if he can hum the song so that I will know the tune of it. But he can't hum. Weeks later, my cousin Loving Dionisio told me that it's "Somewhere My Love" which we always play with the "Musikong Bungbong", a group of young boys taught to play musical instruments made mostly from bamboo. Since then, I always write also the movie where that song is the theme song.
MY ROOMMATE IN AUSTRALIA ALSO PLAYS FLUTE
Australia's
top Grandmaster (GM) Zhong-Yuan Zhao, right, plays the real flute as
hobby. He's the roommate of Roberto Hernandez during the 2009 Oceania
Zonal Chess Championship in Australia where Palau was represented for
the first time.
(Photo by Joselito Marcos)
MY STORY OF THE BAMBOO FLUTE
By Roberto HernandezIt was in the early 1970’s that my third cousin Loving Dionisio asked me and my father (who passed away in 2009 at 92 years old) to make a bamboo flute out of a very thin variety of bamboo of about 22 inches long.
My father
did the heating of an iron bar and we started making holes in that thin bamboo
called “buho”. Eight holes were made for left and right hand fingers (small (pinky),
ring, middle and forefinger). There’s a need for extra hole near the end of the
bamboo to balance the key pitch. A bigger hole for the mouth to blow and to
produce a marvelous and soft sound especially if the one using it had
experiences with blowing instruments like Loving, a music teacher and a Bb
clarinet player in a marching band. He teaches “rondalla” to school kids
(elementary and high school).
His father,
Marcelino ‘Ninoy’ Dionisio, was a music professor and teaches kids from rich
family in Forbes Park
and Magallanes Village. He can play with two saxophones
in his mouth at a time! His eight kids all learned to play musical instruments
or singers. That’s why they reach the finals of ABS-CBN “The Family That Sings
Together, Stays Together” with Pepe Pimentel.
Loving and
his dad won numerous awards and trophies in playing instrumental music (sax,
guitar, clarinet, ocarina, pan flute and our invention – bamboo flute.)
My vast
improvement in guitar playing was because of Loving, who taught me the chords
while he’s playing the bamboo flute, a very rare and harder to play because
there are some sharp and flat notes that need to be played with one of the hole
covered only half-way.
We became
popular in our town as the “Matt and Jess” of Hagonoy, Bulacan in Philippines because
of our size similarity to those two popular characters. Loving is short and
chubby while I’m tall and skinny.
We were
invited to perform in Fort Bonifacio in front of military personnel and to other
provinces even without pay just to gain experience and promoting the bamboo
flute. Free transport and food is good enough for us.
When we
attended a town feast in Paombong, Bulacan, we ride in tandem on a bicycle with
me pedaling it to save on bus fare so that we can play on stage on that night.
My cousin
Willy Hernandez also taught me some pointers in playing guitar. He plays the
French horn in a marching band, mostly on funerals and feasts.
When I’m
working at The Plaza Restaurant in Makati
in 1972, I go home only once a week. In that period, Loving formed “Musikong
Bungbong”, a bamboo musical group. He was able to get the interest of
neighboring kids and they joined the rare group. Bigger kids will play the
biggest bamboo instrument as bass. The bigger “buho” alternating sounds with
bass. He asked for my help to build a marimba out of fully grown and old “ipil-ipil”
tree. Lots of experiments and drilling holes in the hard wood resulted in a
very original marimba, to replace xylophone which is usually metal.
I didn’t
realize it then that by learning to play bamboo flute, guitar and marimba will
make me be myself today.
The
“Musikong Bungbong” had its first hurdle when Loving met Paul Toledo in 1974.
Mr. Toledo is the founder of “Pangkat Kawayan”, who became popular worldwide
because of the rare kind of music that bamboo can produce. He threatened to sue
Loving if he will continue with his “Musikong Bungbong”, that didn’t use
“angklung” in the group. It is another percussion bamboo instrument that
produces a sound by shaking it. In fact, it is used in every cultural show that
the Polynesian Dancers are doing at The Plaza Restaurant. Before the end of the
show, they will invite 8 guests to play 8 “angklung” (in Do, Re, Mi, Fa, Sol,
La, Ti and Do tunes). The host will point to the person to shake it and they
can play “Do-Re-Mi” with those to the delight of other guests.
The meeting
with Mr. Toledo somehow diminished Loving’s interest to pursue the promotion of
bamboo flute. And when I worked in Palau in February 04, 1992 till now, I went
home to Philippines only seven times, in 1993, 1995, 1997, 2004, 2009, (6 days only
and 11 days in Australia) 2010, (6 days only and 16 days in Russia), and 2011.
Loving
suffered a stroke due to high blood pressure in mid 90’s and affected his
hands. He can not play the clarinet and bamboo flute anymore. He also had
hearing problem and he can’t afford expensive hearing aid.
When I
talked to him during my vacation in 2004, I have to shout so he can hear me.
He passed
away in 2009 and with a new development that’s going on, I might continue the
legacy of “Musikong Bungbong” even in other country that can support its rare
existence. Even to the extent of importing “buho” and other materials from
Philippines if the other country doesn’t have that kind of bamboo grown locally
especially that bamboo being use in making that flute because it is very easy
to break.
I would
like also to keep its name “Musikong Bungbong” as a tribute to Loving Dionisio,
a friend, a teacher, a father, a musician, an innovator and the biggest
influence to my musical career.
Source: Music and Me
By Roberto Hernandez
By Roberto Hernandez
Tia Belau Newspaper
Volume 21
Issue 18
April 05, 2012
Volume 21
Issue 18
April 05, 2012
I was also requested before by a guy of "theme from "Cats", a Broadway Musical. A colleague (Francis, pianist), told me it's "Memory" by Barry Manilow or Barbra Streisand. I like the version of Barry Manilow that transposes the key of C three times and ended at key of E flat (Eb) while fading.
Since then, again!, I always put the "from the movie"... so that I will not forget where those songs became a theme of a particular movies. Some notable songs are "Looking Through The Eyes of Love" (1978) by Melissa Manchester that was the theme song from a very nice movie "Ice Castles" and composed by Marvin Hamlisch and Carol Bayer Sager; "Where Do I Begin" from "Love Story" (1970) Composed by Francis Lai and Carl Sigman -- this song starts with "Where Do I Begin, To tell the story of how greater love can be?"
Love Story is more popular than its original title "Where Do I Begin". All people that requested me this song said "Love Story" and never "Where Do I Begin".
That is how an original brand or title affected the mentality of some people... A boy was asked by his father to buy toothpaste at a variety store. He said, "Can I buy Colgate?" The saleslady will ask "What kind of Colgate?" and the boy will say, "Close-up".
A girl wants to buy soda (or soft drink), "Can I buy Coke?"
"What kind of Coke?" She will say "Pepsi".
Some Palau songs that derived from Japanese/Filipino songs get their title from the first lyric of the song. The Palau version of Japanese song "Kokoni Sachi Ari" was entitled "Arashi" because the first words of that song is "Arashi Mo Fukeba". The "Saigo No Iiwake" becomes "Ichiban" because the first word of the chorus of that song is "Ichiban" which means number one.
Now, back to Mr. Kawabe. In his last requested song, he sat near me and gave me $10.00 tip. Before he left, I asked for a photo with him. I said I might feature him in my "Music and Me" column at http://palau-chess.blogspot.com
I asked for his complete name and he volunteered to give his complete address in Tokyo. I wrote it on a piece of paper but somehow I misplaced it till now.
Sources: Music and Me
By Roberto Hernandez
Chess and Music (Perfect Combination)
The Beginning of Chess in Palau
By Roberto Hernandez
To be published as a book in the future
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