• ‘Unang Gugma’ is all about poignant love
• ‘Old Warrior’ releases new book

To start off, what young people today don’t know is that, while the names of the Visayan troubadours Max Surban and the late Yoyoy Villame were making waves in the music industry, there was Boholano singer-composer Emil Loseñada, who made his name in the music world singing Tagalog and Cebuano songs, in–demand for concerts during his younger days in the same way that the likes of Daniel Padilla, Sam Milby and company are today.

Emil, who is also known as Milyo Nario, has been in the music industry for six decades yet he remains very relevant in our lives.

Recently, Emil is now back in the limelight and collaborating with broadcasters Glee Orcullo and Atoy Cosap for their new album Unang Gugma (First Love).

Singing is his first love that eventually turned into a lifelong passion. Emil’s top selling albums were Sa Aking Pagbabalik, Its 5am, Ang Iyong Dangal Sayang/Hilo Hilo na Ako,  Matud Mo and Mag-Playing Playing Ta. His major hits were Pasawaya Ko Day (with Dulce), Dolor, Mingbalik AKo, Guhit ng Palad,  Inday, Ikaduhang Bathala and  May Kahati Pala Ako.  Emil also has written songs for other local Philippine recording artists like Max Surban, Willy Garte, Verni Gonzales, Roel Cortez, Butch Ilagan, Del Horest, etc.   His songs were later adapted to films like The Rookies and the Mighty Kids (1987), Ang Nusog at Tatlong Itlog, Bodyguard: Masyong Bagwisa Jr, Boy Tipos and Mga Parung-Parong Bukid.

In Unang Gugma, Emil sings Unang Gugma, Honey, Uminit Na and Oh Babes.

 

Who knew dyRD’s news anchors Glee and Atoy could sing, too? It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us, really, that some of our media friends also happen to be good singers.

Glee and Atoy are gifted with a pretty good singing voice, but can keep an audience glued to the radio just by talking.

Glee is no stranger to singing. She showcases her vocal chops when she was a TV host in Cebu City. In Unang Gugma, she writes and sings Ayaw Nagbalik, Bakit Ba and Bakit Ganon.  Glee sounds as if she’s singing you to sweet slumber with sadness in her heart and caressing you with every word of every line of the songs. Well, all about love and heartaches. Ouch! (Her boyfriend left her for another nilalang, right Sir Peddie B.?—LPU)

Atoy has floored listeners with his gentle yet poignant melodies in Unang Gugma. He writes and sings Pahiri, Samtang Nagpitik ning KasingKasing and Kon Sala Man.

“The songs we chose for the album are based on our experiences,” Glee told VRS. “Easy listening tunes that most talk about love and heartaches.”

Unang Gugma album is available at dyRD News Room. You may text/call 0910-135-7858.

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I welcome the month of August with positive notes, high hopes and inspirations. After all, life is beautiful.

I have to thank whoever gave me a copy of Old Warrior and Other Poems last year. I opened the book while caught by boredom and I couldn‘t put it down. I was inspired to finish the poems by Dr. Nestor Maniebo Pestelos, a long-time resident of Bohol.

In case you didn’t know, the book’s Foreword will remind you that Nestor didn’t grew up surrounded by books as Emily Dickinson and many other poets were. Neither did he have highly educated parents nor did he have any formal education in poetry. So how do the precise words and phrases seem to flow so effortlessly from his neurons to his pen or to his laptop screen?

Dr. Nestor Pestelos earned his Master of management Degree from the Asian Institute of Management under the UNICEF scholarship and pursued successfully a doctorate degree on educational management at the University of Bohol. He organized the Bohol Local Development Foundation (BLDF) to serve as partner of government in implementing programs and projects under the theme poverty reduction and sustainable development.

According to Nestor, his poems assumed another dimension as it paved way to build more core houses to benefit those rendered homeless by the quake on Oct 15, 2013.

 Last month, Nestor has released the book “Old Warrior’s Poems and the Bohol Quake Assistance Story” with Australian-based writer Milwida Sevilla-Reyes, a former classmate of Nestor at the Quezon National High School in Lucena.

The 227-page book, twice the size of the previous “Old Warrior and Other Poems,” has added a part two which documents the experiences of BLDF, the non-government organization headed by Nestor. Publication of the new book was made possible through a cash donation by Corazon Maxino Verzosa, a realtor in Metro Manila.

Proceeds from the sale of the book will help enable BLDF implement its new initiative, the youth livelihood and drug rehabilitation project.

Copies of the book are available at Crescenia Café, Baclayon Food Station, in Poblacion, Baclayon and Darunday Manor in Tagbilaran City. You can call Florencia Gilay-Pestelos at (038)- 540 9327 and 09173041484; Email: fgpestelos@yahoo.com;  Lorena Sensen Balala- 09353635241; and Romulo Pasco- 09173066158; Email: glennmoli@yahoo.com.ph).

 Oops!!! Before I get carried away, let me share with you some entries (only the printable ones) from Old Warrior and Other Poems:

In Old Warrior he writes:

Gone are the trenches

Gone are the nightly vigils

Gone are the songs to occupy poem-bullets.

In Silence he writes:

I remember the silence of roses in your eyes

And this longing you wrap it like a shawl

Around your frail body

In rain or sunshine.

In Afternoon Rain, he writes:

Yes, as raindrops disappear

And the sky seeks a new reason for being

The afternoon remains puzzled

In these desperate moments of missing you.

Anyway, the poems are introspective and insightful.  As I said, it will make you think that life is beautiful.

Thank you, Sir Nestor for sharing your poems!

***

They happen about…once in a blue moon

Boholanos living in some parts of Bohol missed out on Friday night’s full moon, but some residents of Tagbilaran City had a spectacular view of the ‘blue moon’ as it lit up the sky briefly.

Wet and cloudy weather was to blame in Visayas region, where the Pag-asa said the blue moon began at 6:45pm.

Tagbilaran was also predicted to miss out due to bad weather, but the moon was pictured revealing itself through rain clouds for some minutes before it disappeared.

Like other sky-gazers, Glendon Villagonzalo, 14, a grade eight student of Cogon High School enjoyed the unusually brief blue moon.

“I thought I could not see the moon because of the bad weather but I am very happy I got a glimpse of it,” said Villagonzalo.

Joshua Galleros, 16, a grade six pupil of Booy South Elementary School in Tagbilaran missed tonight’s celestial phenomenon. When he went outside to check the moon, it was covered with clouds.

Blue moons aren’t actually blue, but they are as rare as the saying goes.

Each month has one full moon. But, every once in a while the cycle of the moon and our calendar match up to give us two full moons in a month. The second full moon in a month is commonly referred to as a blue moon—this July, the first full moon was on July 2, and the second full moon is on July 31.

The famous phrase “once in a blue moon” means rare or seldom.  It’s not because of the color of the moon, but because of how often you see two full moons in one month, according to NASA’s National Space Science and Data Center.

The next blue moon will be in January 2018.

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