Gifted musicians talaga ang mga members ng bandang The Juans—composed of Bulakeños Carl Guevarra, Japs Mendoza, RJ Cruz, Chael Adriano, and Joshua Coronel—lalo na ang poging frontman nilang si Carl Guevarra na napakahusay ding humabi ng lyrics. Hindi lang mahusay, mabilis pa.
Thurdsday night lang daw (March 19) nang pagawin siya ng mga Viva Records bosses niya ng kantang napapanahon sa Covid-19 crisis na kinakaharap ng mga Filipino. By Friday, ready na ang kanta. Over the weekend, they—and the rest of the The Juans members—recorded it at home and today, Tuesday, March 24, ni-release na online ang nakakaiyak at nakakapanindig-balahibong “Manalangin.”
And kaninang hapon lang, a few hours after ma-release ang lyric video ng impromptu composition niyang “Manalangin” ay agad na nag-trending sa Twitter at Number 3 ang hash tag na #ManalanginPH.
Just last week, nag-trending din ang latest hugot song nilang “Sirang-Plaka.”
This afternoon, kasabay ng pagte-trending ng “Manalangin” sa Twitter, ay ginambala namin ang tulog ni Carl for a video interview using ang bagong uso ngayong Zoom app. Of course, we talked about The Juans’ giving birth to this new song na habang pinakikinggan mo ay hindi mo mamamalayang tumutulo na pala luha mo. Pusong-bato lang yata ng ilang pulitiko ang hindi tatablan ng kantang ito.
Anyway, click the video above to view Carl’s interview and click the links below to view the lyrics video.
Faith over fear. #ManalanginPH
Posted by The Juans on Monday, March 23, 2020
And if you have extra time in your hand, you may also read the transcript of our Q & A below:
Ikaw lahat nagsulat no’n o collab kayo?
Carl: Nasulat ko po ’yong song, pinagawa sa akin ni Boss [Verb del Rosario]. . . hahaha. . . Parang ano po tsinat niya ako ng madaling araw, I think Thursday [March 19] ng madaling araw and I submitted it to him Friday.
Lyrics and the musika, sa’yo?
Yes po. But the boys help me out with the music. Nag-record si Japs and RJ ng additional vocals and guitars...so we’re just very fortunate to have the ability to produce on our own. So the entire product that we released today is collaborated effort of everybody.
Na online...hindi kayo magkakasama? Lahat ba kayo nasa Bulacan ngayon?
Yes po. Pero dahil magkakaibang barangay kamı, hindi rin namin p’wedeng kitain ang isat-isa kasi naka-lockdown po kami dito. May isang confirmed case in our city so only one person is allowed to leave the house and may window [time] din kung kailan ako p’wedeng umalis.
Ano ’yon, automatic, naisip mo lang ’yong [lines] na “Tahimik pero di payapa...,” “Paano magkaka-isa sa panahong malayo sa isa’t isa...” Kasi ang ganda no’ng irony.
Actually hindi ko po alam sa’n nanggaling ’yon, e. Basta nag-flow na lang po, e, when I sat down and try to write, those were the thoughts that came into my head and parang na-download lang from the heavens ’yong mga lyrics...it’s not something that I really tried to do or parang...I wasn’t trying to sound witty or trying to sound smart or poetic but I guess that’s just the natural feelings that I have and they just kinda fell in the rightful place. ’Yon po.
Pati ’yong music, e, ang swabe, ang ganda...I’m not patronizing ah, ang ganda talaga.
It’s the gift from heaven. Parang it’s like nalaglag nalang dito sa harapan ko and all I have to do is write it down and execute it. Parang gano’n po siya, e.
I’m sure medyo aware ka sa disconnect...parang ’yong medyo may kaya, iba ’yong pagha-handle ng situation ng lockdown, ng quarantine, ng CoVid...pero feeling ko, yong mas tatamaan talaga ng kanta mo is ’yong mga frontliners, mga kumakalam ang sikmura ngayon...alam mo ’yong gano’n? ’Yong mga hindi talaga alam kung san kakapit ano?
Ikaw, in particular, pag nagso-social media ka, ano ’yong [nababasa mo na] talagang tumatama sa’yo to be able to produce a song like this? San ka tinamaan?
Actually ano po, e ang pinaka-nag-strike sa akin before, you know, getting involved with writing the song... I read an article about doctors dying of the virus. And it’s just so ironic how you run to doctors for help and even them can’t help themselves anymore? And they’re sacrificing a lot for the community and yet no one really seems to have the answer on how you will get well?
Para kang... my initial or my general idea of the situation is, if you get the virus it’s always 50/50. If the symptom are severe, you die; if the symptoms are relaxed then you’re fine. But there’s no way of knowing and parang...as of today there’s still no proven cure. So there’s a sense of hopelessness and helplessness that I felt.
Even the doctors can’t heal themselves and I saw an article where a doctor said she’s scared and she hasn’t felt scared like that and this is coming from a doctor who probably has the best knowledge of what to do. So, imagine what...I, all of a sudden, I felt like afraid? Even while writing the song I went through a bit of an anxiety attack because... it’s just the feeling of, “Lord, what’s the solution?” There seems to be no solution. And I guess that’s where “Manalangin” came out from, from the... when there’s nothing left to do, all you really could do is pray.
And it’s funny how a guy like me going through anxiety, experiencing panic attacks would be actually able to write a song about hope, and about praying, and about declaring that matatapos din itong dilim na’to and I guess trying to be a light in the midst of darkness. ’Yon po.
So, bale itong kanta na ’to ang message mo sa mga [feeling] hopeless ngayon?
Yeah. Actually, ang amazing sa kanta na’’to... so, na-submit ko po siya mga Friday kay Boss [Verb]. By Sunday, the Malacañang announced for a week of prayer. So, parang meron pong order from Malacañang announcing that this week will be a National Week of Prayer, where even the government is encouraging people to pray. So, for me, grabe. Sobrang amazing lang na after writing the song, after two days here comes the national government encouraging everyone to pray.
So, I really felt in my heart that, “You know what, maybe we’re supposed release this right away. Maybe, this is a message that people will be able to connect and maybe this can be a resounding message for everybody”... to really take time to pray for our country and pray for the people that are going through suffering, going through lack, worrying...
And this virus, it’s not just claiming people’s lives, it’s claiming people’s mental health—especially for people who are vulnerable to anxiety, panic attacks...Ako di naman po ako nerbiyosong tao siguro lang I needed to go through that to so that I could write the song. Kasi right after...say, yesterday...kasi I finished the masters last night, e. After that okay na ako, e, kasi tapos na ’yong project. Tapos na ’yong gagawin ko, e.
But I guess I had to go through that...kasi po I’m living a relatively comfortable life. I mean, you know, my mom cooks, I’m in my room.. komportable naman po ’yong buhay namin, e, but I guess the reason why I had to go through anxiety and panic attacks the past two days is because I just needed to feel what other people are going through, maybe even worse... and hopefully connected that feeling and let people know that they’re not alone in this battle.
Obviously, you’ve remained creative and impactful kahit naka-lockdown kayo or naka-quarantine...pero ano pa ’yong ibang ginagawa mo, you know, to keep sane, to keep moving...
Actually po, there’s a lot of work on our end...we’re editing a lot of videos, we’re creating a lot of material online because sabi nga namin may dalawang options in this time of crisis: either to be paralyzed by fear or to move and act in faith. So, what we’re doing po sa The Juans now is we’re trying to create as much content as we can, we’re trying to stay active and engaged online because we believe na the platform...we believe that whatever it is that we have in our hands—the internet, the reach on Facebook and YouTube, we can still use that doing what we do, to keep sharing our music, to keep sharing our art...
And yesterday, we had a meeting—actually parang everyday nagmi-meeting kami ng The Juans online. We’re trying to keep ourselves occupied with what can we do at this time because we don’t wanna waste time sleeping around or eating or...I mean, of course, we do that but... we try to relax and also, you know, get a bit of rest but at the same time, we believe that we’re positioned at this time for a purpose. And ginagawa po namin lahat nang makakaya namin so that we could maximize whatever it is that’s in our hands. We’re very blessed to have the ability to produce our own songs, our videos together.
So, I think three days ago we did parang online jamming where we took videos of all of us individually and try to put that together in one video so people would see that we’re jamming together virtually. To cut the long story long short, we’re trying to utilize everything that we can to make good use of this situation and to still bring inspiration to the people regardless of how restricted we feel ’cause, you know, no one can really get out of the house as of this moment.
So, me kasunod pa itong impromptu, inspiring song na ito?
Hopefully po. Hopefully we can keep on writing songs...we’re trying to really get in that zone of songwriting pero kung...’cause people know us na puro hugot, puro heartbreak... but that’s just the surface. Parang just the tip of the iceberg like if you really dig deep down, our foundations would really point towards inspiring people, point towards relating and connecting to everyone.”
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