The Doors

(Not about That)

Some twenty years ago, I had some success as a pianist-singer and songwriter on a commercial scale in Manila.

This opened a lot of doors for me. Literally.

One of those doors was at a local radio station called Jam 88.3, the producer of the multiple-platinum selling #Ultraelectromagneticjam album for the #Eraserheads (hello Eric Perpetua and Claudine Najera!) As my alter-ego #IshaAbubakar, I performed  “Torpedo” along with top sessionists Edwin Vergara, Jayvee Torres and Simon Tan.

One other door was located at the home and imagination of Earnest and Buddy Zabala.

I came in through their door and went back out with memories of musical projects, conversations and homemade cakes shared. For several years, our children went to the same remarkable progressive school together, thanks to their own recommendation.

In November 2018, without really saying a proper goodbye to many friends and family, we upped and moved to British Columbia. We thought at that time there were no goodbyes.

Then Covid came and took away many of our friends and family.

When I learned that Eraserheads was on their #HulingElBimboWorldTour and coming to Vancouver, I reached out to Earnest right away. I’ve made it a habit to reach out to Filipino musicians playing Vancouver, but of all the outreach I’ve done, this was the one that panned out really well. I guess the Universe meant for me to see Earnest again.

And while I tearfully choked on #ParaSaMasa midway through their set at the PNE Forum on Renfrew and Hastings, I suddenly understood why the Universe made this happen for me.

I was experiencing a Joni Mitchell with the band’s music and artistry.

I am being given a profound view from Both Sides Now.

First, the level view: a fellow musician who moved alongside them in the same world. Youthful, creative, singular, privileged.

Now, the audience view: as a working-class immigrant. Older and faceless, struggling to create a meaningful life in a different world.

My heart cried so loud, but thank Allah the crowd was crazy enough to drown out the sound of my existential discoveries.  

Eraserheads played with such energy and verve that I can say they are at the peak of their musical powers right now, performing more than twenty songs. Images and videos accompanied the songs on the big screen behind them, mostly referencing UP life (i.e the Kalayaan Residence Hall, where I believe Ely, Raimund, Marcus and Buddy stayed as freshman students).  Buddy did verbal lead-ins to the songs, the breathers to an otherwise relentlessly-rendered setlist.  

The acoustics at the PNE Forum were far from perfect, but I found that being situated closer to the stage and in the middle gives a better listening experience. My daughter and I were lucky to be experiencing the music closer to where the band was.

To galvanize the diasporic Filipinos into joyful collective singing, to bring back a memory of home, both actual or imagined, in essence, manipulating Time and Space – these are what profoundly accomplished artists are able to achieve in the world. What a terrible power and privilege that must be.

Last night, with the music and artistry of the Eraserheads, I went back Home, to a life when my mother and father and many other remarkable people were still with me.

So here’s how I remember the setlist (in no particular order, as always)

• Shake Yer Head
• Drive
• Tindahan Ni Aling Nena
• Huwag Kang Matakot
• Maling Akala
• Kailan
• Julie Tearjerky
• Para Sa Masa
• Maselang Bahaghari
• With A Smile
• Minsan
• Maskara
• Spoliarium
• Ligaya
• Magasin
• Superproxy
• Huling El Bimbo
• Killing An Arab (The Cure)