The music said it all

A tribute to  50 years with Monsignor Rudy Villanueva, Cebu’s literary giant and great musical genius, was celebrated by his family, relatives, friends and seminarians and the community at the San Carlos Seminary Junior College on June 5.  His  music  filled the evening as Cebu’s top performers (solo and choral) whom he coached, rendered his popular compositions and expressed their gratitude to their mentor – celebrant.
Msgr. Rudy touched the lives of several generations of seminarians through his music through public performances in concerts and musical plays staged at the St. Theresa’s College auditorium.  I will never forget his production of “Jesus Christ: Superstar” in 1972 which made us less afraid of Martial Law then because of an excellent cast.   We used to rave about Alfredo Quiniquito who played Jesus Christ and the man who played Judas.  That evening  we met the man who played Judas, Ramon Villanueva, who performed for Msgr.  Rudy and also learned after all these years that the alternate role of Jesus Christ was played by Most Rev. Julito Cortes who sang the song composed for him on his ordination by Msgr.  Rudy.  We started recalling the revival of the zarzuelas at STC  with the tandem of  Msgr. Villanueva and  Delia Alino-Villacastin like “Mini”, “Tirana,” “Paabuta Ako sa Langit”.  I also like his Cebuano version of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “Mikado” because it brought a Broadway musical close to the masses.  He brought these musicals to the community when he was the parish priest of Valladolid, Carcar as part of  fund raising for the building of a parish church.  The parishioners are very grateful to Msgr. Rudy for their church that music built.  During his stint in Valladolid, he did not only influence the parishioners to engage in choral groups for the church but also the youth of the poblacion of Carcar whom he befriended and strongly bonded with.  A group of them still come together to sing and  call themselves Friends and Neighbors.  His influence was not only in music but also in  bonsai culture.  I still remember how many homes were filled with bonsais of various sizes. Many of them provided additional income to several families  aside from developing the aesthetics in the residences
To date, book publications and sound recordings of his music involve singing, while an extended work-in-progress is a theater-piece tentatively called “Leon Kilat:  A Cebuano Opera.”  At the Tabo Arts Festival held in Cebu City in 2011, I participated in the workshop on song writing which he facilitated.  He used his popular “Cebu,Cebu” as the workshop piece on how to compose a song.  He made it sound so interesting, easy, and fun.  That was when I asked him about the progress of the Leon Kilat Musical and he said there was a need of funding. I am looking forward to this musical.
Msgr. Rudy contributed greatly to the development of the Visayan choir repertoire in a more people-friendly vein.  In 1981, he co-founded with then Governor Eduardo Gullas the Cebu Popular Music Festival (Cebu Pop).  He composed one of the prize-winning songs “Langit ug Yuta” which was intensely and beautifully rendered at the tribute by Girlie Lapinid.  He also directed annual concerts, most of which are choral in nature  at STC  and the seminary.  I attended more the STC concerts and my most memorable is the Love Concert which featured the best love songs of the 1960’s and the 1970’s.
His two-volume collection of choral arrangements – a third is underway – focuses on old and new Cebuano carols (daygons), while aiming for the preservation of the old harana and love song.  While the series is called Handumanan (for “Remembrance), it is also the only vehicle so far of original Villanueva choruses or those of other songwriters needing choral settings for their materials.  In fact, when I was then director of the UP Cebu Central Visayas Center, I used his arrangements as contest pieces in the province-wide daygon contest which I facilitated for the provincial government’s revival of our cultural traditions from 2004 to 2009.
For many yhears now, church musicians have been using Msgr. Rudy’s vernacular collections:  Cancionero Cebuano, Twenty-four Masses, Salterio Cebuano, and the Festival Series (3 volumes). My favorite is his version of Amahan Namo.  His most recent and I guess everyone’s favorite is the song he composed for the beatification of Pedro Calungsod,  “Way Sukod and Pagmahal” which was performed by the Voices of Praise group – powerful, moving, soulful – and drew the loudest and longest ovation during the tribute.
After the two-hour musical tribute to Msgr. Rudy by a grateful community, the celebrant responded with only one short line – The music said it all!