Armor Rapista: A musical activist
Armor Rapista
* Musicians are faced with hard work in strengthening our musical foundation. We should strengthen this so we could progress and thereby survive globalization
ARMOR Rapista, 35, a soft-spoken and very talented Ilonggo musical artist had been in the professional music industry since 1997. After graduating, he played in bars and became a member of several musical groups in Iloilo City. They played folk and country music, mainly.
Not only that, he could write songs. He had been writing since 1991. For him, song writing is a continuous process, which he does everyday.
He has a latest album called "Sa Pagbalik ng Liwanag" which contains five songs. Music critics said that the music in this album is very relaxing and hypnotic because of its use of three major instruments --- the guitar, harmonica and analog synthesizer. He considers this CD as his most minimal. Rapista is fond of experimenting on instruments and working on a lot of orchestration.
He also came out with a literature entitled "The Higher Frequency" which is a collection of short essays, phrases and ideas about him, Iloilo City and its culture. "Most of these writeups were written while having coffee or after submitting feature stories for the daily newspapers. Some came up while doing a midnight walk from my acoustic gigs," he stated in the said literature. Although he thinks that the reader may find the literature radical, he hopes that he could elevate minds into a deeper level of personal and cultural awareness. Thus the title, Higher Frequency.
Get to know more about Armor in this interview.
Armor
Kathy M. Villalon (KMV): What kind of a musician are you?
Armor Rapista (AR): I always experiment with sounds. I would like to explore the aesthetic of sounds. I'm a musician who reinvents our musical path, which means I create new ideas.
KMV:What topics do you tackle in your songs?
AR: Social activism, essence of man, universality, love and the environment. I think it's how we perceive ourselves or the reality we see according to the era where we belong.
KMV: What do you foresee in the Ilonggo music scene?
AR: There will be a lot of rebuilding in our musical foundations. There's a strengthening in the aesthetic foundations of the Iloilo music industry.
The city government should consider local music as a component of progress. Progress is not just measured on the economy but also in terms of tourism and culture, which includes music. I think that the city government is doing little as regards this.
Ilonggos are still unresponsive to Ilonggo music. And the unresponsiveness to local music shows that there is a lesser musical foundation. Only the commercial kind of music dominates Iloilo. There is no diversity, which is a sign that music here is not progressing.
We have no musical representatives nor band that embodies the aspirations of the Ilonggo people. If there is an event that will trigger a substantial response on the masses, I expect that Iloilo can compete with other major cities.
The writer with Armor
Musicians are faced with hard work in strengthening our musical foundation. We should strengthen this so we could progress and thereby survive globalization.
KMV: That's quite discouraging ...
AR: The musician should not be discouraged.
KMV: To attract the younger crowd, you need to make a few adjustments. Are you willing to do Ilonggo hip hop?
AR: I am willing to do Ilonggo hip hop if I find that there is relevance to our culture. It's a musical direction that I will explore.
KMV: If you were a song, what would that be and why?
AR: "Magkatulad", song number 3 in my album "Sa Pagbalik ng Liwanag." It shows the universality of things. It says that we are almost the same with other aspects of reality and elements of nature. It's always the topic of my songs, to enhance our perception of the universe... that we are one with the cosmos.
KMV: How would you like to be remembered?
AR: Somebody who has contributed to our local music industry.