A BACKGROUNDER

For someone who wasn't born in Bohol and still claim a tag of being a "proud Bol-anon" is hardly conceivable but not totally impossible in spite of the spite Boholanos sometimes underservedly get for just being Boholanos, much like as it were in Biblical timeframe where Jesus was at times accused of and being mocked for being a Nazarene himself as the perception during his days run something like this, "Is there anything good coming out of Nazareth?" "Is there anything good coming out of Bohol?" That I've heard so many times many years back as a young person as if coming from Bohol or being a Boholano is a curse unto itself or, again, a tag that one needed to shy away from or be ashamed of. Even without academic evidence of scientific studies supporting such belief or claim but it's almost safe to say that there were those who avoided being teased upon or mocked (in a good way, if there's such a thing as good mockery?) in front of many that you knew you were at a wrong place at a wrong time. Of course, I known people myself who dreaded such a nametag that they even ended up lying, i.e., claiming a different domicile or region-of-origin when asked such a question. I never understood why but I had my suspicions why they did.

And here comes the innocent me, a totally different bred, one who never spoke a hint of Bol-anon before the age of five, who had never set foot on this beautiful paradise since the last time God first thought of him long way after the Garden of Eden drama (confused already? LoL), who in youthful innocense had no clue where his lineage orginated from, and whose dad and mom were still fighting over the idea whether raising children is best served somewhere other than the big city or in the city itself, even when in those years big cities, including Manila, were still relatively primitive in comparison to the current millenium's definition of an 'urbis.'

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MY TAGBILARAN CITY

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A lyrical expression and titling on a subject like Tagbilaran is something I never thought would ever come in my lifetime nor at a distant future. Having written songs the past thirty years doesn't make the task any easier nor gives me the privilege and know-how to do it. The word Tagbilaran is as sophisticated as any I find out there and thought is better served if it remains a state of mind (much like my 3rd or 4th fav'rite city, New York (see Billy Joel). Hmmm, what a thought. But it was exactly on one surreal moment - and mode at that - that this poetry came to be as one's imagination sometimes would like us to think or look at. It was there, in the deep recesses of my visual exploration that I had the guts to even put this into writing and call, MY TAGBILARAN CITY.

Words by J. Roel Lungay

Music by Romeo C. Mascariñas

Performed by Romeo C. Mascariñas

It feels like a dream
A quiet I couldn't quite figure out just yet
A moment of silence that is
On a journey I know not the direction.

Peoples and machines moving thoughtlessly
in all direction -
No visible footsteps nor clear faces -
Nothing seems to make sense
Much like waking up at dawn for no reason at all.

The serenity just drowns on top of silence -
Silence incensed with movements -
I wonder if the gods have something to do
with all these
Quite precious it seems
I'm almost like sleepwalking.

This I conclude, I must be awake!
I must be home!
I must be where I need to be!
And want to be!
Where I dreamt to be...
And love to be...

Not sleeping but awake!

My Tagbilaran City!

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