Ang Kalatas Volume V June 2015 Independence Day Special Edition | Page 18

‘Mano Po’ The Music
Composer Rene Tinapay teaches Pinoy values through his songs
A bit of an activist, a bit of a traditionalist.

He’s also the romantic
Pinoy who has penned dozens of original compositions
in the language that he loves – Filipino.

ONE does not have to listen between the lines to
understand the message of composer Rene Tinapay.
They’re rather straightforward, unveiled in a rhythm
that’s as Pinoy as it gets.
“Music keeps me going, I write and sing because I
love doing it,” Rene tells AK one Saturday afternoon in
Blacktown. He was carrying a 12-string acoustic all set
for a day’s jamming with friends after a day’s work.
He was a folk house singer during his younger
years in Davao, Rene has become the compleat
entertainer. But the nightly jams of this musikero was
cut short when he moved to Australia in 1989 at the
close of a trying decade – those years when Davao was
more known as ‘Nicaragdao’, his beloved city was in a
state of unrest and instability.
“I had to say goodbye to the work that I love,
singing in the folkhouse. When I arrived in Australia, I
was in a sort of a culture shock, the place was all quiet,
napakatahimik, walang night life,” says Rene.
“Eventually I found some gigs to do. Australia may
be very different but there is also a demand here for
singing folk. I got back to singing covers like those of
James Taylor, Simon & Garfunkel and the like.”
But beyond doing covers, Rene discovers a mission
in his music too. In recent years, he has written one
song to another, recording tunes of his own, even
conceiving tracks while on a train ride.
“There’s something that pushes me to maybe
teach our younger generation about our country,
about the traditions we cherish. I want to pass on our
Filipino values through music.”
He was talking about ‘Mano Po’, a song he
composed in 2012. It was intended to teach the value
of ‘respect for the elders’, the simple gesture of ‘Mano
Po’ deeply ingrained in Pinoy culture. But the younger
Pinoys growing up in another country may not even
know what the ‘Mano’ is all about.
“Isang pag-galang sa ating mga magulang; Mano
po Itay mano po Inay; Kay sarap pakinggan; Magandang
kaugalian,” Rene sings the opening lines of the song.
“I hope that the young Filipinos continue this
tradition – sino pa ang magtuturo nito at magpapasa
nito kung hindi tayo.”
What’s the activist side in him? Probably that is
best revealed in ‘Gahaman’ – a song that is a social
commentary on the dysfunctions of Philippine
18

JUNE 2015

Mano Po
© Copyright 2014 Rene Tinapay
Words and Music: Rene Tinapay
Guitar Arrangement: Maroine Rey Siega
Mano po Itay mano po Inay
Isang pag-galang sa ating mga
magulang
Mano po Itay mano po Inay
Kay sarap pakinggan
Magandang kaugalian
Sana’y mapangalagaan
At hindi mapabayaang
Mawala it