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VOLUME XXI No. 45
Tagbilaran City, Bohol, Philippines
May 19, 2007 issue
 
Remembering Yoyoy Villame; The Philippine King of Novelty Songs
 

Ask your parents and grandparents if they know Butse Kik, chance is 90% they know the song. If you ask those who were born in the 1970s, 80s and 90's the song is familiar but they could hardly remember the lyrics.

The song is immortalized by a simple probinsyano, Yoyoy Villame. Long before Lito Camo, there was already Yoyoy who was the irrepressible novelty singer-composer known for his humorous take on the Filipino way of life. Perhaps nobody has done more to carve the date of the “discovery” of the Philippines in the minds of the populace than a comedy singer, former public utility driver, and incumbent elected councilor of one of the boroughs of Metro Manila.

Born on November 18, 1932 in Calape, Bohol , Yoyoy barged into the music scene in 1977 during the Martial Law years with his off-the-wall physical fitness anthem, Mag-exercise Tayo (Let's Exercise).

Roman Villame in real life, the Bohol-raised Yoyoy experimented and recorded many songs in the Bisaya dialect.

He even came up with the classic Abuchikik, a unique song driven by a catchy melody and seemingly unintelligible words. World-class singer Leah Salonga sang this song in one of her concerts.

Included in his repertoire are hit songs Tarsan at Barok, Si Filemon, Nasaan Ka Darling (Where Are You, Darling?) and Da Da Da. And what about his Magellan song? It was the most requested song, a history lesson in broken English, with accents in the wrong places, and the most illegal rhymes in lyric history. But the song Magellan catapulted Yoyoy to fame, and recording companies have since fielded scouts to the Visayan region as though people with his talent grew on trees.

 
DISCOGRAPHIES

Singer. Composer. Lyricist. Arranger. Musician

 

- A native of Calape, Bohol and the youngest of 10 children, Roman Tesorio Villame was born on November 18, 1932.

 

- Before even having a break in the singing industry, Yoyoy was at one point a jeepney driver and at another, an army draftee who fought in the government's anti-insurgency campaign in Central Luzon.

 

- He went back to Bohol to become a bus driver, and there he formed a rondalla combo with his fellow bus drivers as band mates.

 

- The owner of the bus company finally took notice of Yoyoy's efforts, setting up a music studio named Kinamay Records just for Yoyoy.

 

- His first recording was entitled Magellan recorded in 1972, was the beginning of a long span of albums and recordings of Yoyoy's humorous yet politically relevant songs in Visayan, Tagalog and English that was uniquely his own style.

 

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