"Parang karnabal—ganyan ang buhay ng tao"

.
"Bakit ang buhay ng tao
Lagi na lang ganito
Paikut-ikot
Nakatatakot
Parang trumpo

Minsan nama'y
Akala mo
Isang payaso
Sa likod ng bawat patawa
Nakatago'y lungkot..."

November 25, 2005

Finally, I and my new friend Jason Paredes (bassist) with his friends Rod Dizon (drummer) and Ardie Sarao (guitarist) had our first practice session at Jason's basement. The result was commendable. After listening to the demo version of "Buhay-Karnabal" (recorded in 1999 by one of my other bands, Dream Kitchen), Jason, Rod, and Ardie set on to decipher their respective parts. After performing the song repeatedly for about an hour, we began to record it instrument by instrument. Rod laid down the drum tracks, and Jason the bass. Unfortunately, Ardie had to leave early because he still had to pick up his sons from their karate lessons, so he instead taught Jason the guitar parts—who recorded it afterwards. I sang and played the keyboards. After about three hours, we were able to come up with a fairly good draft copy of the song, considering that it was the first time the guys heard the song and that it was our first jamming session.

DOWNLOAD a very primitive version of "Parang karnabal—ganyan ang buhay ng tao." Consider this only the seed of a fruit that is yet to be ripened. When finished, it will be included in the eight-song album that I hope to be able to release next year in case the guys and I manage to pull this project off. However, I am still deciding if, for this album of previously unrecorded materials, I will use the Half Life Half Death name or settle on using a new moniker. I'll cross the bridge when....

View the complete lyric of "Parang karnabal—ganyan ang buhay ng tao" here.

Like many of the Half Life Half Death songs I composed, "Buhay-Karnabal," now entitled "Parang karnabal—ganyan ang buhay ng tao," began as a poem, which I wrote in the mid-'90s. The poem is now a part of my poetry book entitled Pagdiriwang Pagsapit ng Panaginip (Poems in Filipino, 1994–2003), which I wish to get published someday.

I got to transform the poem, "Parang Karnabal," into the song "Buhay-Karnabal," when I became the vocalist of another Filipino New Wave band, Dream Kitchen. I'll take this opportunity to acknowledge Gremar Bernil and Gilbert Tiongson, fellow chefs in Dream Kitchen who made major contributions to the music part of the song.

The eLf as Dream Kitchen's master chef
In late 1997 to 2000, my band Half Life Half Death was dead.... After about a year without any band activity, sometime in late 1997, my itch to perform again was eventually relieved when a fellow New Wave band, named Dream Kitchen, invited me to join them as lead vocalist....

to be continued...