Young singers bring new life to classic songs

Some old songs have the fine luck of not growing older or fading out to oblivion; instead they seem to grow younger. They become revivals, recorded by singers who may have not been born when the songs were first recorded. These revivals are now more popularly known as “covers.”

Two newcomers to the professional recording industry have recently revived the songs “Kaba” and “Bakit Nga Ba?” Both songs were composed by the award-winning songsmith Vehnee Saturno in the ‘90s.

“Kaba” has just been revived by Ysabelle Palabrica, 15, and “Bakit Ba?” by Mia Japson, 14. These are legitimate covers as Saturno himself selected the songs for each of them and produced both singles. The composer has long owned a music production studio and a vocal coaching school headed by his wife, singer Ladine Rojas.

Saturno is also a vocal coach who has trained church chorales to sing competently and engagingly. One church choir he managed in San Juan City included a young man from Canada named Ariel Rivera, whom Saturno asked to record his composition “Sana Kahit Minsan,” eventually propelling the Architecture graduate (in Canada) to pop stardom.

Contrary to the widely held belief that “Kaba” was originally recorded by ABS-CBN star Tootsie Guevarra in 1996, the love ditty was actually first recorded by Tenten Muñoz in 1991. Unfortunately, Unfortunately, Muñoz passed away due to brain cancer in 1996, the same year Guevarra released the song, which became quite famous. ABS-CBN Star Records may have avoided mentioning Muñoz in the promo and publicity for Guevarra’s “Kaba” to avoid exploiting her death. It was not mentioned that Muñoz was the first to record it after winning a TV singing contest for children, with Ryan Cayabyab as the head judge.

We listened to YouTube for the respective renditions of “Kaba” by Muñoz and Guevarra and found Muñoz’s version finer than Guevarra’s. However, the song is actually more age-appropriate for Guevarra for Guevarra as she was already 19 years old when she recorded the song, while Muñoz was only 15 then.

Muñoz recorded “Kaba” as a 45 RPM single for the Sunshine label of Vicor Records. Her real first name was Mary Rose, but she was born on the 10th day of the 10th \ month in 1976, earning her the nickname Tenten. She cut short her singing career by going to the US for college but eventually succumbed to brain cancer.

“Kaba” is a bouncy ditty about a girl infatuated and losing sleep over a boy. Jodi Sta. Maria was also asked to record it to promote her ABS-CBN show Please Be Careful With My Heart, which aired from 2012 to 2014.

K Brosas’ version

In 2018, Star Music asked singer-comedian K Brosas to include “Kaba” in her eponymously titled album. Brosas pulled off a fierce live version of “Kaba” in July 2019 at the Wish Bus of Radio 107.5 FM, and her performance has since amassed almost a million views.

Just this February, a segment in “Everybody Sing!,” a weekend singing contest hosted by Vice Ganda on the Kapamilya Channel, featured contestants singing snippets of “Kaba.”

Palabrica, the latest to record “Kaba,” hails from Bingawan, a distant town in Iloilo. She is the daughter of the incumbent mayor, Mark Palabrica. Currently in Grade 10, she attends a private school owned by her mother in a nearby lowland town (Bingawan is on a plateau). This arrangement makes it easy for her to manage her studies while she stays in Metro Manila most of the time, pursuing her dream to be a well-known singer and showbiz star.

Her parents and maternal grandmother attended her single’s launch recently at Music Box lounge in Quezon City. Saturno was there too, of course, and he has posted Palabrica’s rendition of “Kaba” on YouTube

Japson’s revival of Ella May Saison’s “Bakit Nga Ba?” was re-titled by Saturno himself as “Pintig,” since the word appears a few times in the lyrics. Saturno motivated Japson to sing her version with a bossanova beat, giving the song a tongue-in-cheek feel suitable for a 14-year-old girl who grew up in Caloocan City and has been studying in private schools. Her parents are into events management and earn more than enough money to send their children to private schools.

Japson’s single was also launched at the Music Box a few weeks before Palabrica’s. Both girls are part of a mixed gender teen entertainment group named Krazy-X. managed by former showbiz scribes Audie See and Obette Serrano, who are gay males. After showbiz writing, See got into recruitment of basketball players for commercial teams in the Philippine Basketball League. He is now into showbiz talent discovery and management.

Entertainment

On the other hand, Serrano used to work with ABS-CBN as an entertainment and lifestyle reporter and was involved in magazine shows hosted by Korina Sanchez for the network at that time. He has also handled media relations for singer-philanthropist Ema Cordero and directed her concerts and events. Currently, he is set to direct the show COVID Out, Ate Gay In at the Music Box on 28 April, produced by The Entertainment and Arts Media, a group consisting of showbiz writers and photographers. The event is a fundraiser for Graces, a home for the elderly. Ate Gay, one of the well-known impersonators, is part of the show. She is known for impersonating Nora Aunor, the country’s superstar for decades

We wonder why Saturno didn’t choose to have Japson revive his song “Mr. Kupido,” which he appears to have written for Tootsie Guevarra’s 1996 album with ABS-CBN Star Records. This album also featured the song “Kaba.”

There’s a lack of non-infatuation pop songs from Filipino composers that are suitable for recording by teens under 18. Saturno has two socially conscious songs — “Dasal” and “Limos” — which were recorded by child singer Esang de Torre. According to publicity for Saturno, De Torre trained in his music school. De Torre gained popularity as a contestant on ABS-CBN children’s shows and was once referred to as the “mini-me” of Lea Salonga, who coached her in some of those competitions

Salonga is, of course, the child wonder of Philippine music and the country’s recording industry. In the Philippines, her manager has always been her mom, Ligaya Salonga. The mom herself produced Lea’s first album, Small Voice in 1981, and its 12 tracks had no infatuation songs. Salonga began to record love songs of despair only when she landed the title role in the musical Miss Saigon in 1989; she was 18 years old.

The late Cherie Gil was a child recording singer who waxed “Boy (I Love You” by Snaffu Rigor, who also wrote “Mr. Dream Boy” for Sheryl Cruz as a child singer. Ryan Cayabyab wrote the infatuation song “Kailan” for Geneva Cruz as a member of the youngsters’ group Smokey Mountain. But it’s the only infatuation ditty Cayabyab wrote for teen singers.

The recording company that has non-romantic songs fit for teens is Universal. For instance, “Sana,” by Florante is owned by Universal. The song was popularized by Jolina Magdangal in her youth and also by Danita Parker later.

A friend who was once a disc jockey points out that some songs recorded by Marco Sison for Universal are fit for youngsters even if they sound like love songs, such as “My Love Will See You Through,” which happens to be a Stephen Sondheim song. And, sadly, Universal Records Philippines isn’t fond of releasing revivals.

The Pinoy recording industry and our composers should really have more pop songs for the young that are not about falling in love desperately. The rate of teen pregnancy in the country is among the highest in the world. These infatuation songs could be unwittingly lead young people into risky sexual behavior, along with the portrayal of gushy young love teams on TV and in films.