‘He’s back for good,’ Wowee Posadas says of Bong Peñera – the esteemed Filipino musician and composer who left the country in 1980 and had been based in the United States for over 30 years.
Posadas will host a homecoming gig for Peñera on Sunday, Aug. 16, at 19 East, which will reunite him with drummer Cesar Yumping and bassist Paul Candelaria of the Batucada, plus young singer Yanni Dee.
Peñera was a top-quality act in the ’70s. If Pinoy rock, folk, and pop comprised the mass-audience firmament of OPM, jazz occupied a special spot with Peñera as one of its purveyors.
He was said to have started tinkering with the piano at age 5, later entering the Centro Escolar University Conservatory of Music in 1968 while forming a jazz band named Shades of Latin, and playing his first gigs at a place called Carbungco’s in Quezon City.
By 1973, he had a new group, the Batucada – named after a percussive style of samba, an Afro-Brazilian dance that became a trend-setting music genre.
Peñera adopted the rhythms of samba and its laid-back cousin, bossa nova, melding the music with a Filipino touch. Pretty soon, the Batucada was going places and drawing audiences at Pension Filipina, Bacchus Pub, and Batik Inn.
And then things got more interesting. In a span of three years, Peñera recorded a trilogy of all-original albums: ‘A Samba Song’ (1976), ‘Batucada sa Calesa’ (’77), and ‘Bong Peñera’ (’78).
Fans loved ‘A Samba Song’ because it was different – not noisy but not too soft either. It introduced the Batucada sound, in which the repetitive beats and rhythms of drums (Ding Poblete), bass (Sonny Nabong), and percussion (Nick Boogie) did not have to be boring, especially if enhanced by the flute (Pete Canzon).
Peñera himself sang intimately on several numbers, as if he were beside you while playing the piano with vibrancy.
The title track featured two versions – one with Portuguese lyrics sung by a Brazilian, Maria Dulce Soares de Silva, and the other with Filipino/English lines by Peñeraand Norma Ramirez. In all instances, the message was simple: Life can be more fun if one danced the samba with a partner.
The other songs were moody, personal reflections, including one on his mother (‘Rosita Maria), the inspiration behind the independently produced album’s label, Penny Rose.
The follow-up release, ‘Batucada sa Calesa,’ bore Vicor Records’ Blackgold imprint, with a CBS Sony logo signifying its international release, which meant Peñera had arrived. The title track captured the mood and spirit of the Filipino fiesta while assimilating a musical branch of Latin America.
At the time, the Batucada (Nabong, Yumping, guitarist Jun Enriquez, and female vocalist Mila Garcia) was one of the live music attractions at the Hyatt Regency’s Calesa Bar – hence the album title.
It also contained a track Peñera wrote for his wife (‘Samba for Luisa’), as well as lyrical explorations of where the music could take him – ‘Beat Contemplation,’ originally from the first album but with vocals; ‘Two Themed Samba,’ a playful romp featuring acoustic and electric piano; ‘Lullaby,’ a modern kundiman take on someone putting a lover to sleep; ‘Go,’ a bittersweet view of splitting up; and ‘Tell Me,’ about the anxieties of a relationship on the rocks.
In his third self-titled album, Peñera went on an adventure – adding flugelhorn and trumpet (Fred Concepcion), saxophone (Rudy Sugcang), and two sets of session players to his basic quartet lineup: Candelaria and Sonny Tolentino alternating on bass; Fred Alidon and Edmond Fortuno on drums; with Dingdong and Totoy Boogie on percussion; and Pat Castillo and Patrice Elaine Balquiedra singing one track each.
Imagine Anak Bayan’s Fortuno and Tolentino switching off their rock ‘n’ roll chops and anchoring the three-part movement of the Latin jazz instrumental ‘Ode,’ and accompanying Castillo in the swinging ‘Love Notes.’
Peñera also includes his interpretation of ‘Sa Dako Pa Roon’ from the stage musical ‘Sinta,’ whose soundtrack in the movie version he arranged.
All told, these lead to a great listening experience, rain or shine. If you don’t have the vinyl records, YouTube is a good alternative.
Better yet, go to 19 East this Sunday night. Entrance is free.