Advocacy and music

Advocacy. He is a priest and we deeply appreciate his advocacy in promoting Cebuano music by hosting a weekly radio program that plays songs written by our homegrown composers and rendered by Cebuano interpreters. Fr. Vic Amplayo, who belongs to the Order of Saint Augustine, is into this laudable advocacy which is also close to our heart. We admire him for wisely utilizing the broadcast medium to achieve this purpose. Fr. Amplayo is currently serving as parish priest of the Sto. Niño de Cebu parish in Mohon, Talisay City.

Powerful. Of course, we all agree that radio, as a very powerful medium, continues to play an important part of our day-to-day existence. Fr. Amplayo’s weekly program, therefore, affects the local arts and culture scene as more and more songwriters are encouraged and challenged to have their works aired on his program over dyRC, now formally known as Radyo Calungsod. It is on 648 Kilohertz on the AM (amplitude modulation) band. The program is titled Fr.

Amplayo and Friends, heard every Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m.

Composer. Being a composer himself, Fr. Amplayo has already a number of original compositions (more than 50) to his credit. He wrote the theme songs of the annual local World Youth Day of the Archdiocese of Cebu for four consecutive years (2009-2012). He also did the theme song of the Barkadahan ni Pedro and some of his compositions were sung by Apple Abarquez, Ana Fegi and Ryan Racal. So it is understandable that other songwriters and even ordinary radio listeners from as far as Leyte, Negros, Bohol and some parts of Mindanao follow his weekly radio program. Even unrecorded songs by budding songwriters are given the chance by Fr. Amplayo to be aired on his program. We give this composer-priest two thumbs up.

Agree. Our good friend Joe Go, consultant of the Korean Consulate in Cebu, agrees to our appeal for local cinemas to play at least one Cebuano composition after each screening of a movie. He also says radio stations here are not supporting the move to promote Cebuano music. So sad but true.

Suggestion. Veteran broadcaster Greg Senining of Bantay Radyo, after reading our article last week, suggested that authorities who fail to discipline those people that don’t respect the national anthem should be penalized. “They should be cited for dereliction of duty,” he stressed. Senining also felt insulted one time when he saw a number of foreigners that didn’t stand at attention when the national anthem was played inside a cinema.