Written by Bingo Dejaresco IIIPhotos by mjtaburada of flickr.com
In heaven, they say, there is no beer - but with plenty of music.
Sing no sad songs, then, for Boholano musical great and one of the best icons of Philippine novelty music, Yoyoy Villame. This afternoon, he will be laid to rest in Calape town (in Bohol) where his heart truly belonged.
The Villame family who now resides in Las Pinas City, Metro Manila deemed it proper that the multi-awarded novelty singer-comedy actor be buried in Bohol. But whether in Las
Pinas City Hall, St. Peter's Chapel (Tagbilaran City) or in Sta. Cruz, Calape (where Yoyoy was born on November 18, 1932), there was no doubt that Villame was well-loved by people and will be missed by legions of fans everywhere.
Yoyoy Villame was also a popular four-term councilor of Las Pinas City.
SUDDEN DEATHYoyoy, 75, reportedly developed high fever and didn't go to the hospital for check up last week until Friday where he expired at 2:30 p.m. from cardiac complications resulting from fever and pneumonia at the Las Pinas Medical Hospital. According to family members, Yoyoy kept his physical condition to himself. Since he was a man of energy and humor, he was generally up and about.
Thursday night, Yoyoy refused to be admitted to the hospital, opting to go the following day. After the death of Tess (wife) due to a lingering bout with cancer, the novelty singer vowed he would not inflict undue concern on his family members when his time comes. He fulfilled his own prophecy by just staying in the hospital for a few hours.
We last saw Yoyoy early this year in a BAMMI (Boholano Association in Metro Manila) presentation in Intramuros Manila, where he even obliged a couple of songs to the delight of the Boholano crowd based in Metro Manila. He never fails to delight.
Although he had lost some weight over the last three years, the actor-singer made up for this by wearing mostly bagets clothing alongside spiked hair, at times. He can be down but never out, singer - daughter Hanna revealed. Father and daughter had been a "tandem" talent in many occasions. In fact they were in Davao doing entertainment stints for the May elections. Yoyoy Villame last performed at the Quirino grandstand during a miting de avance held there two days before the election.
Intense heat and fatigue may have caused the fever and pneumonia to set in on the aging Yoyoy.
NO PREMONITIONYoyoy Villame, a ladies man (doubtless) because of his engaging personality, sense of humor and singing prowess, acted in about 50 films and produced 25 albums. His signature songs "Magellan," "I-Buchiki" and "Magexercise Ta," among others, were monster hits that appealed to all regions who were clamoring for an original, rhythmically winsome and catchy original Filipino sounds.
According to the family, the multi-awarded singer never gave any direct premonition about his sudden demise although he had shown signs of being lonely in the last few weeks. Lately, there was a strained look in his face, though, whenever he played his game of cards with friends, according to Gani, a close relative of his wife.
But after a television show three weeks ago, for instance, when asked by one of the performers that they should get together again, Yoyoy wearily answered: "Kung buhay pa ako." According to Olive, a daughter, the closest Yoyoy spoke about his impending departure was on the fateful Friday when he told a househelp Mercy "I am going abroad and believe me, I am not coming back." As usual, Mercy took it as another Yoyoy joke all have been used to.
Yoyoy Villame, may not have lived for that next reunion, but he will remain in the hearts of all Boholanos whom he had given much pride and laughter in his long and checkered career. Though serious in demeanor in real life (like most comedians including the great Dolphy), Yoyoy remained a simple man to the end, though he had been taken advantaged of by some people, Gani informs.
According to a neighbor, Yoyoy readily gave up piece of his land where he planted giant trees to give way for a new road without much ado. He was a good citizen.
MUSICAL ASCENTYoyo's fame started when the family of Leo Menesses put up a recording studio (Kinampay Records) to launch the singing career of one brilliant performer named Yoyoy, who was then working as a driver in their bus company called the MB Liner back in the 1970s.
Very few people recall that Yoyoy started with the Philippine army and then spent 10 years of his life plying the routes in Manila as a jeepney driver before his historic return to Bohol.
As one of the leading and pioneer radio stations in Bohol, Station DYRD (and the Bohol Chronicle) had many years of mutual partnership with the versatile singing star - playing his hits on the airwaves incessantly even against the warnings of conservative folks that the audience was not mature enough to develop the taste for novelty songs with often funny and sometimes outrageous lyrics. He was often interviewed "live" on the air whenever the versatile singer-comedian was in town.
Yoyoy will be long associated with Filipino and Visayan songs that often see the lighter side of things even in the most turbulent years of history and in the every day life of the beleaguered but hopeful Filipino. A group of Chinese, thinking wrongly that "I-Butchiki" was making fun of their race, sued Yoyoy in court. To their chagrin, however, the case never progressed because according to the judge none of the words found in the song were "Chinese."
His kind of music that made many of us laugh and cry (from too much laughter) will forever be our thoughts of him as well as his Boholano pride in converting his "matigas ang dilang Bisaya" into an asset rather than a liability that likewise endeared Yoyoy Villame to most people.
In fact, this heavy regional Visayan accent caused Yoyoy not to win the major prizes in many amateur singing contests in Manila. Little did he know - or we did - that this very derided characteristic of the Visayan warbler - would be the main weapon Yoyoy would later use to make the country discover the musical genius that laid latent in his creative soul.
Of late, Yoyoy was singing contemporary religious songs and he died a Christian.
Yoyoy is dead. But his songs linger forever.
- Bohol Chronicle-5/27/2007
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