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VILLAME
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In
heaven, they say, there is no beer - but with plenty
of music.
Sing
no sad songs, then, for Boholano musical great and one
of the best icons of Philippine novelty music, Yoyoy
Villame. This afternoon, he will be laid to rest in
Calape town (in Bohol) where his heart truly belonged.
The
Villame family who now resides in Las Pinas City, Metro
Manila deemed it proper that the multi-awarded novelty
singer-comedy actor be buried in Bohol. But whether
in Las
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Pinas
City Hall, St. Peter's Chapel (Tagbilaran City) or in Sta. Cruz,
Calape (where Yoyoy was born on November 18, 1932), there was
no doubt that Villame was well-loved by people and will be missed
by legions of fans everywhere.
Yoyoy
Villame was also a popular four-term councilor of Las Pinas
City.
SUDDEN
DEATH
Yoyoy,
75, 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 Pinas Medical 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.
Thursday
night, Yoyoy refused to be admitted to the hospital, opting
to go the following day. After the death of Tess (wife) due
to a lingering bout with cancer, the novelty singer vowed
he would not inflict undue concern on his family members when
his time comes. He fulfilled his own prophecy by just staying
in the hospital for a few hours.
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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.
He never fails to delight.
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, singer - daughter Hanna revealed.
Father and daughter had been a "tandem" talent
in many occasions. In fact they were in Davao doing
entertainment stints for the May elections. Yoyoy Villame
last performed at the Quirino grandstand during a miting
de avance held there two days before the election.
Intense
heat and fatigue may have caused the fever and pneumonia
to set in on the aging Yoyoy.
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NO
PREMONITION
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
"Magellan," "I-Buchiki" and "Magexercise
Ta," among others, were monster hits that appealed to
all regions who were clamoring for an original, rhythmically
winsome and catchy original Filipino sounds.
According
to the family, the multi-awarded singer never gave any direct
premonition about his sudden demise although he had shown
signs of being lonely in the last few weeks. Lately, there
was a strained look in his face, though, whenever he played
his game of cards with friends, according to Gani, a close
relative of his wife.
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."
According to Olive, a daughter, the closest Yoyoy spoke about
his impending departure was on the fateful Friday when he
told a househelp Mercy "I am going abroad and believe
me, I am not coming back." As usual, Mercy took it as
another Yoyoy joke all have been used to.
Yoyoy
Villame, may not have lived for that next reunion, but he
will remain in the hearts of all Boholanos whom he had given
much pride and laughter in his long and checkered career.
Though serious in demeanor in real life (like most comedians
including the great Dolphy), Yoyoy remained a simple man to
the end, though he had been taken advantaged of by some people,
Gani informs.
According
to a neighbor, Yoyoy readily gave up piece of his land where
he planted giant trees to give way for a new road without
much ado. He was a good citizen.
MUSICAL
ASCENT
Yoyo's
fame started when the family of Leo Menesses put up a recording
studio (Kinampay Records) to launch the singing career of
one brilliant performer named Yoyoy, who was then working
as a driver in their bus company called the MB Liner 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. A group of Chinese, thinking wrongly
that "I-Butchiki" was making fun of their race,
sued Yoyoy in court. To their chagrin, however, the case never
progressed because according to the judge none of the words
found in the song were "Chinese."
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
dilang Bisaya" into an asset rather than a liability
that likewise endeared Yoyoy Villame to most people.
In
fact, this heavy regional Visayan 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.
Of
late, Yoyoy was singing contemporary religious songs and he
died a Christian.
Yoyoy
is dead. But his songs linger forever.
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