In
November 1996, a chance meeting in a parish Christmas bazaar
between Yli Vallejo and Lito deTagle, old schoolmates at the
Ateneo, started a chain of events that led to the formation
of Silayan. Yli,
who is a recluse by nature, had only one social outlet,
music. He had
wanted to put together a group to relive his graduate school
days at Penn State when he played lead guitar and sang with
a band at a local saloon in State College, PA.
Lito introduced Yli to Jane Aniceto, a former
undefeated Tawag ng Tanghalan champion and a first jam
session was organized at Jane’s in early February 1997.
Jane invited her good friend Lucy Bonman, while Eddie
Bernardo was recruited to play rhythm guitar. The wives,
Coralyn deTagle and Marilyn Vallejo, decided to sing
back-up. All of them were veterans of glee clubs and singing
groups while growing up in the Philippines.
The
only goal the group had then was to sing 8 songs for the
PAAD Philippine Independence Day formal in June that year.
After that, the group would dissolve.
The name chosen for the group was the title of one of
the 8 songs, the Tagalog love song, “Silayan”, which
means, “to shine upon”.
The
success of that first performance and the closeness that had
grown among the families after numerous rehearsal potluck
dinners with the children convinced all that they should
continue somehow.
They
set as a goal a future 2-hour concert at Borders Books and
Music, but it would be another year and a half before
Silayan had enough songs.
A demo CD of 6 songs was cut in February 1999 and the
first Borders concert that June was quite successful,
breaking attendance records for the Newark store.
Today,
Silayan has almost 4 hours of songs that include popular
music from the past 5 decades, jazz standards, international
songs, Broadway show tunes, folk songs, Christmas hymns and
carols, and Filipino favorites.
Yli Vallejo has written the arrangements for this
eclectic repertoire, discovering this talent in the twilight
of his youth. The group has become a regular fixture
at Borders and has performed at numerous private parties and
is now the House Band for Holy Family Parish in Newark.
The
membership has evolved from the simple 2 guitar, 7 person
set to include a bass player (Gus Alba) and
a drummer (Jomar Ugarte). In 2002, Lucy Bonman moved out of
state and Ed Bernardo left the band to pursue other interests. In 2003, the group was fortunate to have Mira Ongtawco as the newest addition.
Now that the vocal harmonies are sweet and tight, the
instrumental accompaniment is becoming more sophisticated.
During
the past Christmas seasons, Silayan has undertaken
fundraising for a chosen charity, caroling at various homes
and receiving contributions generously offered by their
listeners. These
proceeds along with a good portion of their performance
income throughout the year have been used to bring the
warmth and joy of Christmas to those less fortunate.
Last Christmas, the group provided a sumptuous feast,
music, and presents to the mothers and children at Mary
Mother of Hope House, a shelter for battered women and their
dependents. In
prior years, they celebrated Christmas with homesick
merchant marine crews at the Seaman’s Center in the Port
of Wilmington. Most
of these crews happen to be Filipinos far from family,
tinolang manok, kakanin, and aguinaldos. The group has also
caroled at Kentmere retirement home.
Silayan
has been an unexpected blessing and a source of much
fulfillment in the lives of its members.
They hope that the music they create will continue to
bring joy to their listeners. For they believe music allows you to touch the hem of God.
