The American Songbook goes places

I haven't blogged in ages. Busyness, grief, demands of running a house, much needed time with family are not valid excuses when you're in the writing game.

But today, after a seconds-long power brownout in our part of Baguio, I decided to write something on a project of which I am one of many organizers (the others being Joseph Uy, Alan Andres of the Cultural Arts Events Organizer and retired University of the Philippines Baguio economics Prof. Ben Tapang).

Ben and I are going to incorporate ourselves into a non-stock, non-profit outfit called Guacamole Productions whose mission/vision is to spread the good news about classical music in the city of Baguio. We intend to bring up our most promising classical musicians whether soloists, chamber instrumentalists, vocal artists or, God willing, symphonic orchestra players. The end goal is to make Baguio the Salzburg (northern musical capital) of the Philippines.

Logo of the new creative enterprise Guacamole Productions designed by Jenny Carino

So far, we have been encouraged by the support shown by President Ray Dean Salvosa of the University of the Cordilleras and his staff, particularly Onie Aguinalde, vice president for administration, and Vicky Molina, Salvosa's executive assistant, Des and Auring Bautista who've consistently been with us since the Baguio Summer Music Festival began in 2015, University of the Philippines Baguio Chancellor Raymundo Rovillos who greeted us with a friendly "Is that a cultural proposal you are about to bring to me?," friends from the Baguio Association of Restaurants like Edna Anton of Sizzling Plate, Ninj Sabado of Arca's Yard and Marie Therese Jison of Mother's Garden and Restaurant who immediately signed a check for the dinner of the visiting artists even if her venue is closed for major renovation. Therese said she believed in the project and would like to help. She went to the extent of delivering the check to me. Therese, it'll go to a dinner for 10 persons at the beloved hangout for unlimited Korean barbecue, Korean Palace.

Why Guacamole? Well, we found "pine tree" bordering on a cliche. And avocado trees also abound in Baguio. Plus guacamole implies halo-halo, a merry mix of European classics, American classics, original Pilipino music, Broadway and movie themes, opera, etc.

Salvosa has been some kind of guiding guru, making us understand the taste buds of our city. One time we proposed a chamber version of La Traviata to him and sent him videos of the Viva Voce performance at Ayala Museum last year. He nixed the idea, explaining that his students and employees were not yet ready even if some arias in Traviata were popular.

But when I watched The American Songbook recently (May 12) at the Insular Corporate Center auditorium in Alabang, Muntinlupa City, something clicked in my head. This was what Salvosa meant! Millennials could relate to the songs from the pillars of American classical music (George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and Oscar Hammerstein) and the ones written for contemporary Broadway musicals like Wicked and A Chorus Line. Millennials could also appreciate the sight and sound of their fellow millennials singing the old fogies' songs.

With barely two weeks to prepare, Joseph, Al, Ben and I punched phone numbers, designed and redesigned the e-poster and e-vite, sought sponsors (Musar School of Music was the most recent to step in), composed ourselves into a text brigade to help fill up the UC Theater and UPB's new Teatro Amianan. Salvosa, Bautista and Rovillos were one in saying that the songs from the songbook they were familiar with and they were food for the students' souls.

The American Songbook premieres tomorrow in a matinee at 4 p.m. at the UC, followed by a 6 p.m. performance on May 26 at the UPB and finally, a by-invitation-only engagement to celebrate Bautista's birthday at the UB Centennial Hall on May 28.

The singers Jasmin Salvo, Jan Briane Astom and Mheco Manlangit Photo by Bianca L. Susi

After all these, the songbook team of tenor Jan Briane Astom, sopranos Mheco Manlangit and Jasmin Salvo and original pianist Michelle Nicolasora will reprise the concert on June 17 at Ayala Museum in Makati and in a dinner-concert on July 1 at Gourmet Gypsy Art Cafe on Roces Ave., Quezon City.

But nothing like watching the show in good ole Baguio in the summer when the living is easy!

Our thanks also to our other partners: National Commission for Culture and the Arts and Genesis Transport Service Inc. with its de luxe Joybus ferrying the performers, production and documentation teams to and from our fair city.

Arca's Yard and its camote pie

A row of bulols (rice granary gods) found in the attic of Arca's Yard Photos by EV ESPIRITU

Come rain or come shine, Arca’s Yard up in Tiptop, the boundary of Baguio and La Trinidad along Ambuklao Road, enjoys full-house patronage. Locals don’t mind the drive up outside city limits to get their slice of camote pie.

Owner Nida “Ninj” Sabado believes “I’m the only one serving this pie probably in the whole Philippines.” She cites the root crop’s role in Igorot rituals, especially in cañaos where pigs or carabaos are butchered to mark special occasions like wedding feasts. Alongside the cooked meat, staples like camote and gabi are served,

Sabado grew tired of boiled camote so she thought of a different way of serving it. She researched and discovered that sweet potato pie is the favorite dessert of Michael Jackson. Through trial and error, she got the taste she liked—pure, organic, with loads of anti-wrinkle and anti-oxidant elements.

Camote pie a la mode

Before Arca’s Yard Café opened, there was the gallery she put up to assuage her grief over her mother’s death in 2014. It was a combination of mini library and museum with the Cordillera as its theme. She said, I want to share and preserve the culture of Benguet and the whole Cordillera.”

She wanted the place to be somewhere her writer and artist friends could hang out, even if there was a typhoon raging. The gallery once faced the road, then she moved it to their adjacent family proper and now it’s facing three mountains on a clear day: Mt. Pulag’s tip, Mt. Purgatory and Mt. Ugo on the Itogon side. The sunrise and full moon can be viewed from the balcony.

The gallery-café grew to a three-room bread and breakfast place that is five storeys high, including an attic for the book collection, and still expanding sideways. It has come a long way from being originally the ranch and kamote plot of Sabado’s father Arca. She says he had no surname—Jonson, Dianson, Djanson were appended after his first name. Before World War II, Arca supplied Camp John Hay and the hotels of Baguio with fresh milk.

Ninj Sabado is a good storyteller about the old Baguio.

Today Sabado’s customers not only go up for the pie but also for the enlanrged menu that includes lamb chops, pasta, lechon kawali, arroz a la cubana and anything that she calls “easy and quick to cook. I didn’t realize all this would be successful.”

Arca’s popularity grew through word of mouth and social media. Visitors are always fighting over seats that have panoramic views whether it’s sunny, rainy or foggy.

Lovers' Locks

Another feature is gate inspired by a bridge in Paris. Sabado calls it Lovers’ Lock. She sells the padlocks for a minimal fee and lovers can make their vows by that gate barring a cliff.

When the restaurant is packed, service slows down. Sabado soothes her waiting customers, telling them, “We’re new, we’re feeling our way and trying to improve the service.” –Elizabeth Lolarga

View from the balcony

This article and some photos were first published in the Aug. 3, 2016, issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer Northern Luzon Supplement.