SISON THE POET SINGS HIS POETRY
Poetry in Songs: Jose Ma. Sison Sings His Poems
Produced by the Euro-Philippine Inter-Cultural Solidarity
2006

While the album Poetry in Songs is not Jose Maria Sison’s “first shot” at having an album, this is the first album where he sings his own poems –- set to music by himself together with Levy Abad Jr., Danny Fabella, Jos Linnebak, Tony Palis, Empiel Palima, Chickoy Pura, and Aldeem Yanez –- with musical accompaniment by classical pianist Ariel Caces and arrangement by Josefino Chino Toledo.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat

Jose Maria Sison –- current chairperson of the International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), founding chairman of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), and award-winning poet –- has said in a number of interviews that if he had not become an activist, he would have wanted to be a balladeer.

He had a “first shot” at that in 2004, with the release of Joma Sings: Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa, produced by multi-media group Kodao Productions, where he renders songs by different artists. Among the songs he performs in the album is Andres Bonifacio’s “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Bayan,” set to music in the 1970s by Luis Salvador Jorque into the song “Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa.”

He now gets a “second shot” at that wish with the release this year of Poetry in Songs: Jose Ma. Sison Sings His Poems, produced by the Euro-Philippine Inter-Cultural Solidarity (EPICS).

While this is not Sison’s “first shot” at having an album, this is the first album where he sings his own poems –- set to music by himself together with Levy Abad Jr., Danny Fabella, Jos Linnebak, Tony Palis, Empiel Palima, Chickoy Pura, and Aldeem Yanez.

Those who have been able to listen to both albums would notice a marked improvement in Sison’s singing style.

In Poetry in Songs, Sison’s vocalization has more power and is able to express a wider range of emotions. He is now also able to tackle more difficult notes. The voice lessons he is reported to have taken in preparation for this album appear to have paid off well for the man.

Singer’s style

But there are still aspects of the singer’s style that could use a little additional work. In some of the more melodically-challenging songs –- like the rally favorites “In Praise of Martyrs” and “What Makes a Hero” –- Sison’s vocalization comes across as tense. A little more work in this area could surely enable him to be more relaxed, and thus come across as more natural, without necessarily reducing the emotional expression.

The musical accompaniment for all the 15 songs in the album is done by classical pianist Ariel Caces. As in the earlier albums which featured or included Sison’s songs set to music –- Songs of Love and Struggle and Songs of Struggle and Liberation –- Caces with his sophisticated piano moves does justice to the Sison poems set to music. As a pianist, he knows just when to hit the keys strongly and when to just almost tap them.

Poetry in Songs includes all the Sison poems in Songs of Love and Struggle: “The Guerrilla is Like a Poet,” “The Giant Oak,” “What Makes a Hero,” “In Praise of Martyrs,” “Sometimes, the Heart Yearns for Mangoes,” and “The Bladed Poem.” In addition, we are given classical-music renditions of “The Coming of the Rain,” “A Cool Breeze,” “The Forest is Still Enchanted,” “A Furnace,” “Gold,” “In the Dark Depths,” “The North Star is Always There,” “Poems and Rest,” and “Rose for a Waking Woman.”

As in Songs of Love and Struggle and Songs of Struggle and Liberation, the musical arrangement for Poetry in Songs is done by Josefino Chino Toledo.

The artists

Sison, who took a degree in English Literature from the University of the Philippines (UP) with honors in 1959, has been noted as a writer since his university days. Considered the Philippines’ leading revolutionary, he has authored several books, including two poetry anthologies: Brothers and Other Poems and Prison and Beyond. He won the Southeast Asia WRITE Award in 1986 in Thailand.

Fabella, Abad, and Palima are members of Musikangbayan, a protest folk group that has released three albums: Rosas ng Digma, Anak ng Bayan, and Songs for Peace. Fabella is also with Sining Bulosan, the cultural arm of Migrante International.

Linnebak, a Dutch composer, provided the original Dutch rendition for “Sometimes, the Heart Yearns for Mangoes.”

Pura is the frontman of the progressive-oriented band The Jerks, and has portrayed slain activist leader Leandro “Lean” Alejandro in a musical play. The band is well-loved by activists and non-activists alike for its protest rock classics like “Rage” and “Sayaw sa Bubog” among others written and composed by Pura.

Pacis is an English teacher based in Laguna, who believes English should be taught to the poor, and is also an organic agriculturist.

Yanez is a member of the church-based activist chorale Haranang Bayan. He was national president of the Youth of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI or Philippine Independent Church) and vice chairperson of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).

Toledo, who teaches at the UP College of Music, is the founding director of the Metro Manila Community Orchestra and the UP Festival Orchestra, among other music groups. Caces, besides being an accomplished classical pianist, is also a conductor. Bulatlat