ALVIN Yapan Photo by RAFFY Lerma
The way producer Alemberg Ang recalls it, he and director Alvin Yapan never planned on releasing a soundtrack for their indie dance film “Ang Sayaw ng Dalawang Kaliwang Paa.”
“But there was a clamor from the people who had seen ‘Sayaw’ at the Cinemalaya,” Ang recalls. It won best music score at the 2011 Cinemalaya fest.
Precisely because making a soundtrack was just as challenging as the filmmaking process, they had to tap the same friends and colleagues who helped them finish the film.
It took a village to make the film and its accompanying soundtrack.
“The CD contains some of the instrumental pieces and all the songs from the movie,” Ang explains. “There’s also poetry reading.”
As bonus, the CD features poems, written by some of the country’s top feminist poets, as read by the film’s lead stars Jean Garcia, Paulo Avelino and Rocco Nacino.
“Some of the poems were only heard in part in the film, so we decided to include them in full on the CD,” he says. “Since the poets didn’t get royalties from the film, we would give them royalties from the CD sales.”
Among the poets featured in the film and CD are Rebecca Añonuevo, Joi Barrios, Merlinda Bobis, Ophelia Dimalanta, Ruth Elynia Mabanglo and Benilda Santos.
“The songs were composed and arranged by Jema Pamintuan and Christine Muyco,” Ang says. “Like Alvin, Jema teaches Filipino at the Ateneo de Manila. Christine is the chair of the Department of Musical Theory and Composition at the UP College of Music.”
Ang says that Christine, who’s from Iloilo, helped them in creating the scene involving the epic “Humadapnon.” “The chanter Rolinda Gibaliga is from the Panay Bukidnon tribe.”
The performers—Victor Robinson III, Nicole Judalena and Roselle Pineda—were their pals as well.
“Victor and Nicole are Alvin’s students, while Roselle teaches at UP Diliman,” Ang says.
They relied on another buddy, Ang’s schoolmate from Xavier, Kerwin Kaizer, for the CD’s cover design and the film’s poster, too.
Originally recorded at SQ Laboratories (which is owned by the family of Ang’s student Angelo Santos), the songs had to be remastered and reengineered for the CD. “Good thing that the owner of EMI Studios, Ernie Magtoto, is a friend, too. Ernie also manages the New Minstrels.”
The CD is released exclusively by Astrovision.
“As you can see, most of the people involved in making the CD and the film are friends. That’s the indie way. We don’t have a big budget, but we have lots of friends who are willing to help.”
The CD, in a way, is a testament to the power of friendship.
Ang and Yapan also included two bonus tracks, “Pagsamba” in Bikol and Filipino. “Pagsamba” is the theme song of another film they collaborated on, “Gayuma: Pilgrim Lovers.”
“It was composed by Jema, too,” says Ang. “It’s rare for an indie film to have a soundtrack, so we included ‘Gayuma’ in the project as well.”
This month, “Sayaw” will be shown at the Hawaii and other international film festivals, while “Gayuma” will compete at the Warsaw fest.
“Sayaw” will have a commercial run on November 16.
E-mail bayanisandiego@hotmail.com.