Remembering the batucada...

Never felt so high & happy when i first got a hold of this wax 8yrs ago, finally a local jazz funk fusion group called The now batucada. hearing there own version of a Filipino classic traditional song like maala ala mo kaya” made me smile & wonder how great they are as filipino musicians. . recorded there own selftitled album, " Now Batukada" for A&W (Villar) Records. The featured personnel were Boy "Yob" Katindig (keyboards "Papa" Jun Enriquez (guitar), Sonny "Chaba" Nabong (bass), Cesar "Bachu" Yumping (drums), Nick "Egub" Boogie (percussion) a nd Jun "Save Me" Salvame (flute and trumpet). This album also became Boy Katindig's entry to pave his own series of solo albums for A&W.

The batucada band Started out independently & sprung from a group called Bato-Balani (circa 1972), that played at the U.P. Los Baños auditorium and the Thomas Jefferson Cultural Center. also a back up band of bong penera, the batucada meaning (the beat) produced 3 albums, one of them is a record collectors goldmine called "A Samba Song", under the defunkt Penny Rose label & was released in 1976 for distribution by Vicor Records to an enthusiastic record-buying crowd. The spare but inspired effort, featuring Peñera's compositions and arrangements, reflected the influences of Luis Bonfa, Joao Gilberto, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Walter Wanderley and other stalwarts of Samba. They performed regularly in a restaurant/inn called Pension Filipina, situated along the bohemian scene of Jorge Bocobo Street in Ermita, the gathering place for both the art crowd and the young social set.

Recently found out that my elementarys best friend dad was part of this group tito sonny nabong. Which i personaly visit once again at his small humble apartment somewhere in leveriza st. Pasay city . i havent seen him for a long time he was surprised and cant believe that im holding a record which is now totally forgotten, for him it was a product of his youthful ambition ,passion & love for jazz music, he told me a lot of stories about bong's disappearance during one of there there set in hyatt and found him lying down in the grass outside the roxas boulevard alone & drunk while after some time he got into a convent in baguio city which he found & pursue his spiritual calling.. sonny told me his early new York trips where he met a lot of jazz cats dealers dopers poets at that time including legendary bass player ron carter and stories where on & on.. and it made me realized how exciting is the music scene back then, in a way its an exploration of some sorts and at the same time its how they make there living. after couple of hours of talking to him. im glad that i put a smile in his heart with my visit. i asked him to sign my record before i left his place he put hes cigarrete down for a while and waved goodbye as i leave..