Juan De La Cruz - Himig Natin (1973)

Artista: Juan De La Cruz 

Álbum: Himig Natin

Año: 1973

Género: Heavy Blues Rock

Duración: 60:42

Nacionalidad: Filipinas

Lista de Temas:
1. Take You Home (4:12)
2. I Wanna Say Yeah (3:38)
3. Round And Round (5:24)
4. Blues Train (6:17)
5. Rock & Roll Sa Ulan (3:17)
6. Shake Your Brains (3:46)
7. Mamasyal Sa Pilipinas (3:41)
8. Big Boss Man (3:26)
9. Himig Natin (5:32)
10. Langit (10:05) (Bonus Live)
11. Mamasyal Sa Pilipinas (3:52) (Bonus Live)
12. Balong Malalim (2:33) (Bonus Live)
13. Beep Beep (4:31) (Bonus Live)

Alineación:
Wally Gonzales : guitarra
Mike Hanopol : Bajo, piano, voz
Joseph Smith : Batería, voz

Juan De la Cruz es una banda de rok de Filipinas, una de las más exitosas en su trayectora musical. La banda fue creada por Wally González (en la guitarra), Sandy Tagarro (en el bajo y la guitarra), Edmund Fortuño (en la batería), Bing Labrador (en el órgano) y Alex Cruz (en el saxo y la flauta), formada en 1968. Ese mismo año en el Festival de Rock conocido como (el legendario modelo Festival de Rock Woodstock de 1969) y posteriormente fue aprovechada por la banda ofreciendo una serie de colaboraciones con la Orquesta Sinfónica de Manila (realizada por Redentor Romero) para Filipinas producción de ópera rock, de Tim Rice y Andrew Lloyd Webber, para interpretar Jesucristo Superstar, en el Centro Cultural de Filipinas. Como consecuencia esta agrupación intrepretó en la banda sonora del dramático personaje de Judas en la ópera de rock producción, realizada por Sandy Tagarro, un instrumentista del grupo y que fue reemplazado más adelante por Clifford Ho como bajista. Tras la conclusión de la producción de Jesucristo Superestrella, Edmund Fortuño (alias "Bosyo"), Bing Labrador y Alex Cruz (con el guitarrista y bajista de Vic Naldo Marlon Ilagan) formaron un grupo escendido, llamado Anakbayan, que junto con la Orquesta Sinfónica de Manila, han realizado para otras principales producciones en el Centro Cultural de ópera rock, por Tommy. El versátil Tagarro Sandy, regresó a la banda Juan Dela Cruz, que ocupaba desde entonces el asiento del baterista Fortuño como la sustitución del músico y también como la primera voz del grupo, mientras que Clifford Ho se mantuvo bajo tareas musicales. El músico de la Orquesta Sinfónica de Manila (quien había hecho una amistad con la producción de Jesucristo Superestrella), Romy Santos (flauta / saxo / clarinete), sustituiría también a Alex Cruz, Segueco René (órgano / piano / voz), que fue contratado para reemplazar a Bing Labrador. 

A raíz de esta importante reforma, Juan Dela Cruz, la banda empezó a grabar su primer álbum discográfico en 1971, titulado "Hasta en Armas", que fue publicado bajo el sello del registro musical de Vicor Corporation Sol. Fue durante esta fase de transición que Joey Smith ha regresado recientemente a Filipinas a partir de una exitosa estancia en Japón y en 1973 había aceptado un trabajo en una academia de canto en el Centro Cultural de "Little Theater", para un abortivo de estilos musicales rokeras realizadas entonces por de Carlitos Benavides que fueron producidas. Sobre la base de Erich Segal 's en los novedosos momentos, de una historia de un amor, en la que la banda de Juan De la Cruz fue una vez más el desempeño. Esto fue también en el período en que los miembros de Juan De la Cruz y de Anakbayan, se asociaron libremente para realizar en conjunto como un "supergrupo" en varios conciertos (Wikipedia).
  

Story from Wikipedia:

The Juan de la Cruz Band was a Filipino rock band formed in 1968. In December 1970, the band was featured in the first open field rock festival in the Philippines, the Antipolo Rock Festival. The band's popularity gained momentum in September 1971 when it backed up the production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP). Then in December of the same year, the band garnered its crowning glory when again, for the first time in the Philippines, a rock group on its own, backed by a full symphony orchestra (the National Philharmonic) was presented in concert at the CCP.


The band originally had six members: Wally Gonzales (guitars and vocals), Rene Segueco (organ and vocals), Clifford Ho (bass and vocal), Romy Santos (wind instruments), Bobot Guerrero (drums), and Sandy Tagarro (lead vocals). Sandy Tagarro left the band before the band's first album "Up in Arms" was released. Wally Gonzales, in an interview later credited Edmund "Bosyo" Fortuno of having coined the band's name though Bosyo's collaboration with the band was not until 1981 with Juan Dela Cruz Band's 6th Album in which he was the drummer along with Joey "Pepe" Smith.


History

Up In Arms
The original Juan Dela Cruz Band, consisting of Wally Gonzalez (guitar/vocals), Sandy Tagarro (bass guitar/vocals), Edmund Fortuno (drums), Bing Labrador (keyboards), and Alex Cruz (saxophones & flute), was formed in 1968. (Source: PinoyClassicRock.com) They performed at the Antipolo Rock Festival (the Filipino equivalent to the Woodstock festival of 1969) and was subsequently tapped as the featured rock band in tandem with the Manila Symphony Orchestra (conducted by Redentor Romero) for the Philippine production of the rock opera by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber, Jesus Christ Superstar, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Consequent to his dramatic part as the Judas character in the rock opera production, Sandy Tagarro vacated his instrumentalist role in the group and was replaced by Clifford Ho as bassist.


Upon the conclusion of the Jesus Christ Superstar production, Edmund Fortuno (aka "Bosyo"), Bing Labrador and Alex Cruz (with guitarist Vic Naldo and bassist Marlon Ilagan) formed a splinter group, Anak Bayan which, together with the Manila Symphony Orchestra, performed for another major production run at the Cultural Center, the rock opera, Tommy by The Who.


The versatile Sandy Tagarro returned to the Juan Dela Cruz Band, occupying the drummer's seat as Fortuno's replacement, and also as the band's lead vocalist; while Clifford Ho continued on bass. A musician from the Manila Symphony Orchestra (whom they had befriended in the Jesus Christ Superstar production), Romy Santos (flute/sax/clarinet), replaced Alex Cruz. Rene Sogueco (keyboards/vocal) was also recruited to replace Bing Labrador. In the wake of this major revamp, the Juan Dela Cruz Band recorded its first album in 1971, entitled Up in Arms, which was released by the Vicor Music Corporation under its Sunshine Records imprint. However, complications in the band caused Sandy Tagarro to leave abruptly barely after concluding the Up In Arms recording sessions; not even to pose for the album's photography. Consequently, the group picture for the LP's album cover showed a different drummer (Bobot Guerrero), with Tagarro's name stricken off the personnel credits, with exception to a parenthetical credit of him as composer of one song ("Lady in White Satin"). Bobot Guerrero's entry as the new drummer of Juan Dela Cruz continued through the promotional run of the album and into concerts and club stints.


The Up in Arms album was not a commercial success and had not been reissued by Vicor Music Corporation to date. An unauthorized compact disc translation of the LP (albeit excellently remastered and packaged) by Shadoks /Normal Music (Bonn, Germany) --with spurious bonus tracks from a later edition of the band—is sold in online Internet shops. Wally Gonzales is showcased as a rock guitarist with progressive leanings in this early effort. In several months, keyboardist Rene Sugueco had also left (briefly replaced by Larry Martinez), and bassist Clifford Ho (briefly replaced by Tony Rodriguez). It was during this transition phase that Joey Smith had recently returned to the Philippines from a successful sojourn in Japan, and in 1973 had accepted a cameo singing role at the Cultural Center's "Little Theater" for an abortive rock musical (produced by Carlitos Benavides) based on Erich Segal's novel then in vogue, Love Story, in which the Juan Dela Cruz Band was once again called upon to perform. This was also the period when the members of Juan Dela Cruz and Anakbayan where freely associating and performing collectively as a "supergroup" ensemble in various concerts.

Himig Natin
The state of Juan Dela Cruz's flux and gradual dissolution led Wally Gonzales to reconvene an all-new powerhouse trio, together with Joey Smith (later a.k.a. "Pepe Smith") as singer-drummer-composer; and with singer-bassist-composer Mike Hanopol. Smith and Hanopol collaborated in Tokyo with Japanese guitarist Shinki Chen in a "free-rock" trio setup called Speed, Glue & Shinki, which had released two seminal albums for Atlantic Records Japan. Rock music historian Julian Cope narrates in his book, Japrocksampler (Bloomsberry, 2007), that Shinki Chen had recruited Joey Smith (and later, Mike Hanopol) from a Filipino rock group called Zero History, which he found performing in Tokyo's mall district. (Wally Gonzales was the guitarist of Zero History.) And thus the vibe of Speed, Glue & Shinky is noteworthy in the earliest contributions of Smith and Hanopol for the Juan Dela Cruz collaboration, especially in the stop-start heaviness of "Take You Home" (revived from the eponymous second album of S,G&S), and the talking blues of "Blues Train".


The ensuing album by the iconic trio of Gonzales, Smith & Hanopol, unfurling its masterly title track, Himig Natin (translated in English, "Our Hymn"), went on to become the anthem of Manila's post-hippie culture and underground radio network, particularly the DZRJ-AM Radio show, "Pinoy Rock 'n' Rhythm" --later on shortened to Pinoy Rock. "Himig Natin" famously rallied Pinoy Rock, which swelled into a movement and provided indicators of its yet-unrealized commercial fuel. The social impact and innovations of the Juan Dela Cruz Band inadvertently became the catalyst for the inception of Original Pilipino Music (OPM) and the viability for diverse, originally-authored musical genres to emerge and thrive in the Philippines.