Dong Abay

Personal life

Born on April 5, 1971 in Manila, Philippines, he shares his birthday with the former Philippine President, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and the date of Abay's birth was also the day when American rockstar Kurt Cobain of Nirvana committed suicide in 1994. He is married to Ninj Botor Reyes. They have a son named Awit (Tagalog for "song" or "chant"), born on May 15, 2002.

Yano days

In 1992, Dong Abay, Eric Gancio and Larry Mapolon met in Patatag, a progressive vocal ensemble. After a year, they decided to form a band called NG (pronounced as en-ji and derived from the Ng diagraph of the Filipino alphabet) with percussionist Renmin Nadela. Abay and Gancio remained and recruited musical arranger and bassist, Onie Badiang to the group. Eventually, the band's name was renamed to Yano. They recorded their demo at the home studio of alternative artist Joey Ayala in June 1993. One of the tracks, "Kumusta Na?," ("How Are You?") a song about the "EDSA Revolution", found its way to a local radio station where the group was first heard. This paved the way for Yano to become active in the local club circuit. Mayrics, Club Dredd, 70s Bistro were among the first clubs that Yano performed in. Drummers for the band included Nowie Favila (Ang Grupong Pendong), Nonong Timbalopez (Put3Ska, Ex President's Combo), Jun Nogoy (Coffeebreak Island) and Harley Alarcon (Rizal Underground). In 1994, the band's self-titled debut album came out and spawned classic Filipino rock songs such as "Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo" ("Holy Dog, Saintly Horse"), "Tsinelas" ("Slippers") and "Esem" (wordplay for SM or Shoemart mall). This was followed by a string of successful concerts around the Philippine archipelago.

In 1994, at the height of Yano's popularity, Abay had to temporarily quit his schooling at the University of the Philippines, where he was an Arts and Letters student, to pursue a career in music. Yano released 2 more albums under BMG, a major label : "Bawal" ("Taboo") in 1996 and "Tara" ("C'mon") in 1997. The eponymous debut album was first released under Alpha Records but was later re-issued by BMG.

Hiatus

During the late 1990s, Abay suffered from clinical depression after quitting Yano. He only stayed in his bedroom for five years. Although, Abay describe this episode as a self-imposed hiatus. He came out of depression while writing new songs set into poetry. He later called Badiang to borrow a guitar and jam.

Pan days

In 2002, Abay returned to the music scene and formed Pan together with Onie Badiang, former bassist of Yano. The outcome was an album titled "Parnaso ng Payaso" ("A Clown's Collection of Poetry."- see Parnassus). Some notable songs from the album include "Dumpsite", "Hula" ("Prediction", which won as Best Folk/Pop Recording at the AWIT Awards in 2003), "Mabuhay!" ("Long Live") and "Rebolusyon" ("Revolution"). Pan played for the local rock circuit with bassist, Milo Duane Cruz and drummer Melvin Leyson.

In 2003, Abay decided to go back to school to finish his bachelor's degree. Thus, the demise of Pan. Aside from his music, Abay got busy exploring other medium and art forms like installation work, visual arts, photography to name a few. He also became busy lecturing and giving workshops around the country.

Solo career

In early 2005, Abay became an indie artist and initially released an EP called "Sampol" ("Sample") at the University of the Philippines as part of his undergraduate thesis. This work consists of acoustic tracks, which were later reborn as full-band pieces in "Flipino," released in May 2006. The album was produced by Robin Rivera, Abay's Art Studies professor in U.P. and album producer of The Eraserheads who eventually hired ex-Eraserheads Raimund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala to play in the entire album. "Flipino" proved Abay's relevance to Philippine music by releasing songs such as "Perpekto" ("Perfect"), "Bombardment" and "Tuyo" ("Dry")". A month before that, Abay finally earned his degree of Bachelor of Arts in Philippine Studies (Areas: Creative Writing in Filipino and Humanities) from the University of the Philippines after 18 long years.

2013-present

In 2013, he released a conceptual album called Rebulto ("Bust"), which focuses entirely on the Rizal Monument along Roxas Boulevard in Manila, and written from the perspective of Jose Rizal, considered one the Philippine National Heroes, for which the monument stand, in the present day. The lyrics are mostly written in the first person, except for a couple of tracks, notably, the first track, "Kilometro Zero" ("Kilometer Zero"), which is a collation of facts about the Rizal Monument, all lifted from Wikipedia. (In the Philippines, the highway system uses the Rizal Monument, or kilometer zero as a reference for metric distance to any point in the country.) The album was also produced and performed by Raimund Marasigan and Buddy Zabala.

In 2017, he formed a band called Dong Abay Music Organization or D.A.M.O. and they plan to release an album entitled Humanidad funded through crowdsourcing.

Yano (album)

1. Kumusta Na (How are You?) – 3:28
2. Tsinelas (Slippers) – 2:44
3. State U – 2:47
4. Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo (Holy Dog, Saintly Horse) – 4:25
5. Trapo (Pejorative term for Traditional Politician;Tra+Po. Literally translates to "dust rag") - 3:23
6. Iskolar Ng Bayan (The Nation's Scholar) – 2:57
7. Kaka – 2:03
8. Esem (wordplay for SM) – 3:38
9. Travel Times - 4:47
10. Mc'Jo (wordplay for McDonald's and Jollibee) – 2:51
11. Coño Ka P're - 2:21
12. Ate (Big Sister) - 2;58
13. Senti (short for Sentimental) - 4:44
14. Naroon (There) - 3:16

Bawal (album)

1. Metro – 2:25
2. Dayo (Foreigner) – 4:15
3. Askal (Filipino wordplay for "Asong Kalye", literally means street dog) – 3:25
4. Bawal (Prohibited) – 3:48
5. Lahat (All/Everybody) – 4:58
6. Ate (Big Sister) – 2:59
7. Astig (Filipino slang for Cool) – 3:08
8. Sana (I Wish) – 5:07
9. Diosdiosan (Fake God) – 3:10
10. Pyutcha (Filipino slang for Son of a Bitch) – 4:23

Tara (Yano album)

All tracks by Dong Abay and Eric Gancio, except where noted.

1. Ako (Me) Eric Gancio – 04:48
2. Paalam Sampaguita (Goodbye Sampaguita) – 03:39
3. Tara (Let's Go) – 04:46
4. Kaklase (Classmate) – 04:45
5. Abno (short for Abnormal) – 04:36
6. Mercy – 04:27
7. Going Home – 04:30
8. Me Mama (There's A Man) Dong Abay, Eric Gancio and Onie Badiang – 04:37
9. Shobis (Showbiz) – 02:01
10. War Eric Gancio – 03:49)
11. Isa (One) – 02:35

Parnaso ng Pasayo

1. Mabuhay! (Long Live!) - 3:37
2. Kahimanawari (God Grant) - 4:11
3. Rebolusyon (Revolution) - 4:36
4. Hula (Prediction) - 3:32
5. Kawatan (Thief) - 4:12
6. Dumpsite - 4:38
7. Eko (Echo) - 4:28
8. Gusto (Want) - 4:38
9. Precious - 3:44
10. Tayo (Stand Up) 2:59
11. Huling Hiling (Last Wish) - 2:59
12. Totoy T. - 3:21
13. Himig (Melody) - 2:35
14. Tagpuan (Tryst) - 4:23

Solo career

Sampol Album

1. Awit ng Kambing (Chant of the Goat) - 2:48
2. Kukote (Occiput) - 3:50
3. Perpekto (Perfect) - 4:23
4. Tuyo (Dry) - 3:50
5. Ay Buhay (Oh Life) - 2:44
6. Wwii - 3:23
7. Solb (Solve, worldplay for Solvent) - 4:53
8. Segundo (Second) - 4:35

Flipino Album

1. Espasyo (Space) - 3:30
2. Akrostik (Acrostic) - 1:32
3. Aba-Aba (Poor) - 2:18
4. Perpekto (Perfect) - 4:51
5. Kukote (Occiput) - 4:13
6. Awit ng Kambing (Chant of the Goat) - 3:32
7. Tuyo (Dry) - 3:42
8. Mateo Singko - 3:49
9. Dyad - (Two) 3:53
10. Bombardment - 2:31
11. Ay Buhay (Oh Life) - 4:14
12. Segundo (Second) - 4:57
13. Solb (Solve, worldplay for Solvent) - 5:06
14. Wwiii - 3:40

Rebulto Album

1. Kilometro Zero (Kilometre Zero) - 3:01
2. Kikilos (Act) - 3:03
3. Par Que - 3:01
4. Anonymous - 3:16
5. Rizal Day - 3:35
6. Bagumbayan - 5:59
7. Titigas (Harden) - 3:57

Others

1. Hikahos (Insufficiency) from the video-documentary "Ilehitimong Utang" (Illegitimate debts) - 2:19
2. Dasal (Prayer) from the album Balangiga 1901 with his previous band Pan - 4:41
3. Ang Kailangan Gawin (The Things We Must Do) from the album "Anti-Corruption Songwriting Competition Finalists", written by Gary Granada - 3:09
4. Casadores (Cazadores, Soldiers from Spain. Literally means hunters, huntsmen, shooters, or destroyers) from the album "[Rock] Supremo", with The Tanods - 3:23
5. Ama Namin (Acoustic) (The Lord's Prayer. Literally means Our Father) Written by Dong Abay for the Filipino crime-drama film "Honor Thy Father" by Erik Matti starring John Lloyd Cruz - 2:30
6. Ama Namin (The Lord's Prayer. Literally means Our Father) The orchestrated version for the "Honor Thy Father" film trailer at the Contemporary World Cinema premiere of the Toronto International Film Festival in Ontario, Canada - 2:21
7. Nasa Puso Ko (In My Heart. Inspired by the words & adapted from the popular music of Psalm 118:24 ,"This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.") the first musical collaboration of Dong Abay & Lourd de Veyra - 1:38
8. Prometheus Unbound words by Jose F. Lacaba, 1973 and music by Dong Abay, 2015 - 6:24
9. Aleluya (Halleluyah) Filipino version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", translated by Carina Evangelista - 6:57