YOYOY |
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PARAÑAQUE
CITY. Boholano musical great and one of the best icons
of Philippine novelty music Yoyoy Villame will be laid
to rest in Bohol where his heart truly belonged.
The
Villame family who resides in this city, deemed it proper
that the multi-awarded novelty singer-comedy actor would
be buried in ceremonies among relatives and friends
of which he had legions in his hometown of Calape.
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The
remains will be flown via today's afternoon flight of PAL
to Tagbilaran City and the body will be brought to Calape
for a three- day provincial wake, according to Jannah, the
eldest in the Villame family. His remains also graced the
Parañaque municipal hall as the Boholano had served
Parañaque City as a four-term councilor.
Yoyoy,
74, reportedly developed high fever and didn't go to the hospital
for check up last week until Friday where he expired at 2:30
p.m. from cardiac complications resulting from fever and pneumonia
at the Las Piñas City Hospital. According to family
members, Yoyoy kept his physical condition to himself. Since
he was a man of energy and humor, he was generally up and
about.
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We
last saw Yoyoy early this year in a BAMMI (Boholano
Association in Metro Manila) presentation in Intramuros
Manila, where he even obliged a couple of songs to the
delight of the Boholano crowd based in Metro Manila.
Although he had lost some weight over the last three
years, the actor-singer made up for this by wearing
mostly "bagets" clothing alongside spiked
hair, at times. He can be down but never out.
Yoyoy
Villame, a ladies' man (doubtless) because of his engaging
personality, sense of humor and singing prowess, acted
in about 50 films and produced 25 albums. His signature
songs "Lapulapu and Magellan," "Buchiki"
and "Magexercise Tayo" among others, were
monster hits that appealed to all regions who were clamoring
for an original, rhythmically winsome and catchy original
Filipino sounds.
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According
to the family, the multi-awarded singer never gave any premonition
about his sudden demise although he had shown signs of being
lonely in the last few weeks.
But
after a television show three weeks ago, for instance, when
asked by one of the performers that they should get together
again, Yoyoy wearily answered: "Kung buhay pa ako."
That was the closest he spoke about his impending departure.
Yoyoy
Villame, may not have lived for that next reunion, but he
will remain in the hearts of all Boholanos whom he had given
pride and laughter in his long and checkered career. His fame
starred when the Menesses family put up a recording studio
to launch the singing career of one brilliant performer named
Yoyoy, who was then working in their bus company called the
MB Liner of businessman Leo Meneses back in the 1970s.
Very
few people recall that Yoyoy started with the Philippine army
and then spent 10 years of his life plying the routes in Manila
as a jeepney driver before his historic return to Bohol. As
one of the leading and pioneer radio stations in Bohol, Station
dyRD (and the Bohol Chronicle) had many years of mutual partnership
with the versatile singing star - playing his hits on the
airwaves incessantly-even against the warnings of conservative
folks that the audience was not mature enough to develop the
taste for novelty songs with often funny and sometimes outrageous
lyrics. He was often interviewed "live" on the air
whenever the versatile singer-comedian was in town.
Yoyoy
will be long associated with Filipino and Visayan songs that
often see the lighter side of things even in the most turbulent
years of history and in the every day life of the beleaguered
but hopeful Filipino.
His
kind of music that made many of us laugh and cry (from too
much laughter) will forever be our thoughts of him as well
as his Boholano pride in converting his "matigas ang
Bisayang dila" into an asset than a liability that likewise
endeared Yoyoy Villame to most people.
In
fact, this regional accent caused Yoyoy not to win the major
prizes in many amateur singing contests in Manila. Little
did he know - or we did - that this very derided characteristic
of the Visayan warbler - would be the main weapon Yoyoy would
later use to make the country discover the musical genius
that laid latent in his creative soul.
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