The song Bodjie wrote for Odette
Odette Quesada today, 10 years after her husband Bodjie Dasig passed away in the states where they migrated in 2000: the song didn’t sound sad when he wrote it but it took a different meaning when he passed away.
Kung isang araw na lang ang itatagal ko dito sa mundo/Gagawin ko pa rin ang lahat ng nakasanayan ko/ Ang kausapin ka sa umaga at mahalin sa buong gabi/Walang mababago, walang isusuko/Kung maari ko nang balikan ang aking nakaraan at ang lahat ng pagkakamali ay puede ko nang mapalitan/Gagawin ko pa rin ang lahat basta ikaw ang katapat…
That’s the first part of a touching song titled Habang Panahon that Bodjie Dasig wrote for his wife, Odette Quesada, years before he died of cancer on March 12, 2012. Odette will include it in her repertoire during her concert,
Odette Quesada, Hopeless Romantic, tomorrow, Jan. 17 (with Kuh Ledesma as special guest), and on Saturday, Jan. 18 (with Sharon Cuneta), and introducing theater actor Arman Ferrer plus surprise guests, at the Maybank Performing Arts Theater, BGC Arts Center, Bonifacio Global City, Taguig City.
Recalled Odette (who is back after more than two decades from the States where she and Bodjie migrated sometime in 2000), “He wrote that song as a Valentine’s gift to me. Our careers would sometimes bring us apart. I just came from a concert in Germany and I brought him a pair of leather boots as pasalubong. And what did he give me in return? That song. I said, ‘Oh my God, he topped me again!’ He must have missed me so much that he wrote that song.
Ganyan siya.”
According to Odette (who is celebrating her birthday here with her concert), at that time, when Bodjie was still alive, “The song didn’t sound so sad. But it took another meaning after he was gone. He did sing that song and recorded it with his band. I also recorded it and released it on
YouTube.”
In May 2012, barely two months after Bodjie passed away,
The STAR did a one-on-one with Odette in LA, arranged by immigration lawyer Jemela Nettles, Odette’s good friend and neighbor. Bodjie was 48.
“Too young to go,” Odette said then, holding back tears. They have a son, now 24, who was so close to his dad that, recalled Odette, “Sunday nights, he and his dad would watch this whole block of animation shows on TV.” She added that she actually started grieving when Bodjie was diagnosed in December 2011. Stage 4. The cancer started in his kidney and had metastasized to his lungs.
It happened 11 years after they migrated to the US. They left the Philippines after the first death anniversary of Odette’s grandmother. Most of Odette and Bodjie’s families are in the States, too. They would have celebrated their 19th wedding anniversary on April 3, two weeks after Bodjie died. Odette and Bodjie were prolific songwriters. Together, they wrote a song called My Favorite Story (recorded by David Pomeranz) dedicated to their son. Odette wrote so many songs that she has lost count…among them Give Me a Chance, performed by Ric Segreto at the 1982 Metropop Festival, winning second place;
Don’t Know What To Do, Don’t Know What To Say; I Need You Back; Growing Up (sung by Gary Valenciano); Farewell (by Raymond Lauchengco); To Love Again (by Sharon Cuneta as theme song of her movie with the same title); and, of course, Hopeless Romantic, the song fondly associated with her.
“Bodjie was a funny guy,” Odette mused in that 2012 interview. “During the memorial, everybody was talking about how funny he was. It was only after he got diagnosed that he stopped laughing. Suddenly, he wasn’t funny anymore. He became serious.”
Odette has remained fancyfree.
Kuh teased her, “Si Odette, nagblo-bloom pa ‘yan at may asim pa. Marami pa’yang magagawang magagandang kanta kapag na-in love ulit at nakahanap ng bagong partner.”
To which Odette replied, “Ikaw kaya muna.”
Then they both laughed. Here’s the second part of Habang Panahon:
Habang nabubuhay pa/Tanging ikaw ang mamahalin tuwina/Habang panahon, hanggang sumalangit na ikaw lamang ang tanging nag-iisa sa puso ko/At pag lumipas na ang panahon, pagbilang ng ilang taon/At ang naiwan na lang sa atin ay alaala ng kahapon/sasabihin nilang lahat, pag-ibig nati’y walang katapat/ Walang pinagbago, ikaw pa rin at ako/Ikaw lamang ang tanging nagiisa sa puso ko. (Odette Quesada, Hopeless Romantic is presented by Rowell Santiago and Noel Ferrer, with Frontrow, in cooperation with PLDT, McDonald’s, Summit Mineral Water, Doris Fernandez-Ferrer and Judy Dy-Tumangan. For tickets, call Ticketworld at 8891-9999.) (E-mail reactions at rickylophilstar@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)