Joey Ayala
Encyclopedia
Joey Ayala is a contemporary pop music artist in the Philippines
. He is well known for his style of music
that combines the sounds of Filipino
ethnic instruments with modern pop music
. His professional music career started when he released an album recorded in a makeshift-studio in 1982. To date, he has released six albums.
Some of the Filipino ethnic instruments Ayala is known to use include the two-stringed Hegalong of the T'Boli people of Mindanao
and the 8-piece gong set, Kulintang
melodical gong-rack of the predominantly Muslim peoples of the southern part of the country. He also uses modern instruments in his music, such as the electric guitar
, bass guitar
, and drums.
He is one of a few Filipino contemporary songwriters who insists on putting his creative energies at the service of cultural/social development, so much so that he has ventured directly into non-formal education - the running of workshops demonstrating the use of arts as a language for education.
The name of his band "Bagong Lumad" literally means "New Native" - a name and philosophy that has been carried over into Bagong Lumad Artists Foundation, Inc. (www.blafi.org), now a UNDP Responsible Party working on SiningBayan (Social Artistry) capacity-building projects with the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Education, and other GOs and NGOs in the Philippines.
Ayala also serves as the (2008–10) Chairman of the National Committee on Music under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (www.ncca.gov.ph).
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
. He is well known for his style of music
Music
Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
that combines the sounds of Filipino
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
ethnic instruments with modern pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. His professional music career started when he released an album recorded in a makeshift-studio in 1982. To date, he has released six albums.
Some of the Filipino ethnic instruments Ayala is known to use include the two-stringed Hegalong of the T'Boli people of Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
and the 8-piece gong set, Kulintang
Kulintang
Kulintang is a modern term for an ancient instrumental form of music composed on a row of small, horizontally-laid gongs that function melodically, accompanied by larger, suspended gongs and drums...
melodical gong-rack of the predominantly Muslim peoples of the southern part of the country. He also uses modern instruments in his music, such as the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, and drums.
He is one of a few Filipino contemporary songwriters who insists on putting his creative energies at the service of cultural/social development, so much so that he has ventured directly into non-formal education - the running of workshops demonstrating the use of arts as a language for education.
The name of his band "Bagong Lumad" literally means "New Native" - a name and philosophy that has been carried over into Bagong Lumad Artists Foundation, Inc. (www.blafi.org), now a UNDP Responsible Party working on SiningBayan (Social Artistry) capacity-building projects with the Civil Service Commission, the Department of Education, and other GOs and NGOs in the Philippines.
Ayala also serves as the (2008–10) Chairman of the National Committee on Music under the National Commission for Culture and the Arts (www.ncca.gov.ph).
Award and Honors Received
- Fr. Neri Satur Award for Environmental Heroism, For promoting environmental awareness and arts education from ancestral roots to new artistic routes of musical expression advocating for the protection of the environment and the conservation of natural resources, National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), 2009
- Benigno S. Aquino, Jr. Award for Social Artistry, Federation of Catholic Schools’ Alumni/ae Associations (FeCaSAA)in partnership with the Good Citizenship Movement [GCM], 2007
- Musical Intelligence Award, Multiple Intelligence International School, 2007
- Datu Bago Award from The City of DavaoDavao CityThe City of Davao is the largest city in the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Its international airport and seaports are among the busiest cargo hubs in the Philippines....
(“for being an outstanding composer-performer-bandleader-lyricist, arranger, writer who has defined the ethnic character of Mindanao music that he renders magnificently well using his voice and indigenous instruments resulting in the consciousness of the Filipino soul of intimations of its moral values and environmental responsibilities.”) Awarded March 14, 2000, 63rd Araw ng Dabaw, Marco Polo Hotel.
- Special MAGIS Award for Outstanding Alumni, Ateneo de Manila High School (, “For creating music that delineates the unique Filipino soul, for defining the ethnic character of Philippine music through the use of native instruments, especially in harmony with foreign instruments like drums and acoustic guitar, and for awakening in the Filipino an awareness of its own heritage as a people . . .”), 1996
- Gawad ng Pagkilala - Komisyon sa Wikang Pilipino. Recognition from the National Commission for the Filipino Language (Dahil sa paglikha ng mga awiting mayaman sa pagpapahalagang moral sa wikang Filipino at paglalapat ng musika sa pamamagitan ng katutubong mga instrumento.... nakatutulong sa pagpapayabong at pagpapaunlad ng wika at kalinangang Pilipino. [For writing songs laden with moral values in Pilipino, for musical arrangements using indigenous instruments . . . for helping enrich and develop Pilipino culture.]), 1993
- Outstanding Alumnus in the field of the Performing Arts, Ateneo de Davao UniversityAteneo de Davao UniversityThe Ateneo de Davao University is a private and research Catholic university administered by the Society of Jesus in Southern Mindanao in the Philippines. It was established in 1948...
Alumni Association, 1993
- Nomination: Ten Outstanding Young Persons of the WorldThe Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP)The Outstanding Young Persons of the World program serves to formally recognize young people who excel in their chosen fields and exemplify the best attributes of the world's young people. The program is sponsored by Junior Chamber International ....
, Award for Cultural Achievement, Junior Jaycees Chamber InternationalJunior Chamber InternationalJunior Chamber International is the only worldwide non-political and non-sectarian youth service organization. It is an international community of citizens between the ages of to with the aim and purpose of creating positive changes in the world...
, 1993
- The Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) Award, The Philippine JayceesJunior Chamber InternationalJunior Chamber International is the only worldwide non-political and non-sectarian youth service organization. It is an international community of citizens between the ages of to with the aim and purpose of creating positive changes in the world...
, (“for humanitarian efforts directed towards the two objectives of art - as relevant socially-oriented medium and as aesthetic principle”), 1989
Albums
- Panganay ng UmagaPanganay ng UmagaPanganay ng Umaga is the first and pioneering album of the Filipino alternative folk band Joey Ayala at Ang Bagong Lumad. The album was published three times under different record labels.- Track listing :...
(Firstborn of the Morning) - Magkabilaan (Dichotomies)
- Mga Awit ng Tanod-lupa (Songs of the Earth-Guardian)
- Lumad sa Síyudad (Native in the City)
- Lupa't Langit (Earth and Heaven)
- 16lovesongs
- Awit ng Magdaragat (Song of the Seafarer)
- Organik
- Basta May Saging (As Long as Theres Bananas!)
- JoeyAyala: RAW
- Encantada (Music from a Ballet Philippines dance-drama, 1992.)