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Tuesday, June 22, 2010
YOYOY VILLAME" FILIPINO NOVELTY GENIUS!
Born on November 18, 1932 in Calape, Bohol, Yoyoy barged into the music scene in 1977 during the Martial Law years. He became a national figure in 1977 with his near anthemic “Mag-exercise Tayo,” which has been adopted by government agencies and public schools as the official music for their Monday morning exercise after the flag ceremony.
He blended Filipino folk melodies, popular tunes and nursery rhymes for his music and then added witty lyrics that mixed Tagalog, Cebuano and English in a form of grammar that he concocted.
Roman Villame in real life, the Bohol-raised Yoyoy experimented and recorded many songs in the Bisayan dialect.
known for his humorous take on the Filipino way of life & Famous for his Novelty classic Abuchikik, a unique song driven by a catchy melody and seemingly unintelligible words he allegedly came up by writing down the names of Chinese stores while waiting for a mechanic to fix his broken-down jeepney in Manila's Chinatown .he also wrote a dusty pinoy funk gem song called trapik' with its heavy drum breaks & killer conga grooves that is absolutely amazing!
The youngest among ten children of a fisherman father and fishseller mother, Villame started composing songs for the Boy Scouts in his elementary days. Dropping out after his second year in high school, he enlisted to become a soldier-trainee of the Philippine Army. Being unhappy in his post in Pampanga, he asked for a discharge after the surrender of rebel leader. Villame would become a passenger jeepney driver plying the Baclaran-Pasay Taft-Santa Cruz-Dimasalang route. During the ten years of driving jeeps, he would compete in amateur nights held at Plaza Miranda in Quiapo but only to lose because of his strong Visayan accent.
In 1965, Villame went back to Bohol to become a bus driver of the MB (Meneses-Butalid) Liner fleet, He could compose and sing the names of different towns of Bohol in an instant! There is no need for a ball pen or paper, right there he could compose the lyrics and give the melody!Yoyoy admitted that his life was mean in the province. He even confessed that most of the people are poor and they look for a job in another place or join the guerilla rebel army. He could be the best guide in Bohol where he had a bus numbered 13 that plied the Tagbilaran-Ubay-Talibon route. At the bus company, he formed with some fellow drivers the MBs Combo, a rondalla band where he sang and played the mandolin. He was soon invited to parties and eventually as an entertainer in fiestas, baptism, weddings, funerals and special events. The owner of the bus company took notice of Villame’s efforts and set up a music studio named Kinampay Records, after a local dish, just for him. Villame's first recording was in 1972 and entitled Magellan, a parody of historicism of Ferdinand Magellan's failed conquest of the Philippines. This became the top-selling record in the Visayas-Mindanao region. Comedian Chiquito recognized his potential and brought Villame to Manila to be signed to Vicor Records, which re-issued most of the Kinampay catalogue. Touring Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and other parts of Luzon helped Villame establish his name in the country.We Celebrate Yoyoy's contribution as a great novelty singer-composer & a true filipino genius. he touches the depths of the true filipino soul & spirit . Perhaps nobody has done more to carve the date of the “discovery” of the Philippines in the minds of the populace than a comedy singer, former public utility driver, and incumbent elected councilor of one of the boroughs of Metro Manila.