‘Memories on Two Strings’ shines the spotlight on the ‘hegalong’

DE LEON. No musical inhibitions.

Can you produce an album’s worth of material if your main instrument only has two strings? Composer Diwa de Leon answers the question with an unequivocal yes through his upcoming album, “Memories on Two Strings.”

Featuring two discs – “Elevate” and “Meditate” – and a total of 25 original compositions, the entire collection is a celebration of the hegalong, the two-stringed T’boli guitar. Don’t expect any traditional music here, though.

“The only thing traditional is the instrument,” says de Leon, who also calls his first solo album “an exploration on limitation,” given the fact that the hegalong only has two strings. Limited is the last word you’d use to describe the compositions in “Memories on Two Strings,” however – they delve into a wide range of music genres, from pop to rock to ambient to jazz.

Versatile

In fact, in the hands of the right musician, the instrument proves itself to be remarkably versatile. It sounds very rock ‘n’ roll in the driving “Stormy Night,” for example, then it goes techno in “Evolve,” “Japanese Garden” and “Urban Legend,” before turning bluesy in “Fly.” Then, there’s the Bollywood-flavored “Samosa,” the disc-ender for “Elevate.”

“I didn’t have any inhibitions here,” says de Leon, who adds that ethnomusicologists might wince at how he bends the strings of the hegalong. “I want to explore the many ways that the instrument can adapt to the kinds of music that most Filipinos listen to today. How will it survive if you don’t move it forward?”

The composer, who won awards for his sound and musical scoring of Aureus Solito’s “Busong” at this year’s Cinemalaya, is a champion of the hegalong, which he has been playing for more than 10 years, often with his band, Makiling.

He sees it as something of an underdog in the country’s lineup of ethnic musical instruments. “It’s not as well-known as the kulintang, for example – but, it’s more flexible, because it’s more melodic,” he says. His goal is to make it a more mainstream and modern instrument, just as India’s sitar and Japan’s shamisen are being adopted by today’s musicians.

De Leon composed and arranged all of the songs in the album, which was coproduced by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA). With the exception of a few pieces, in most of the tracks here, the only live instrument is the hegalong. “I took advantage of the technology available today,” he says, “but I also have guest artists.”

Lyrics

They include Color It Red’s Cooky Chua, who lends her voice to the song, “Moonrise,” a mesmeric number with lyrics by Yanna Verbo Acosta. Other guests: Zab Reyes, vocals on “Fine Day” and “The Funky One”; Charanjit Wasu, tabla and vocals on “Samosa”; Jeanne Vicars, who adds her voice to “Rising Sun” and “Evolve”; Jaf Husin, guitars on “Stormy Night,” and Aba Dalena and Brian Ligsay, vocals and narration on “Dreaming.” Dalena also contributed lyrics for “Dreaming” and Shallah Montero wrote the lyrics for “Fine Day” and “That’s All.”

“Memories on Two Strings” will be released first at www.cdbaby.com, and will be officially launched at the Conspiracy Garden Café on January 14.