Yano

Yano is a Filipino folk/punk rock band formed in 1993. The band members were originally composed of Dong Abay on vocals and Eric Gancio on guitar. Onie Badiang later joined them to play bass. Nowie Favila was the usual drummer but declined to join the group due to commitments with Ang Grupong Pendong. Other drummers of the band included Nonong Timbalopez, Harley Alarcon and Jun Nogoy. The band got their name when Abay looked through an entry in "Talahulugang Pilipino", an old Tagalog dictionary. "Yano" in Tagalog means "simple", a term often used by Tagalog speakers in the province of Quezon. The group disbanded in 1997 after Abay left the band.

In 2007, Gancio revived Yano as a one-man band, although he continued to use sidemen as backing musicians for live performances.^[1][2] In later years, Gancio while performing vocals and lead guitars is accompanied by JR Madarang on bass and Ronald Madarang on drums.^[3] In 2013, Yano released their fourth studio album titled Talâ (Star).^[4]

History

Early years

In 1992, Dong Abay, Eric Gancio and Larry Mapolon met in Patatag, a progressive vocal ensemble. Gancio was chosen to represent 'Patatag' to a composite chorale group for a concert tour in Japan where he met Manji Ikuta who would be the front act in all their shows, with his band called 'Soso'. Manji gave Gancio a vintage semi-acoustic electric Yamaha, which Gancio later named 'Kai', in what was a pseudo samurai sort of ritual. In December 1992, Gancio invited Abay to the former's desire to journey into the adventure of writing his own songs. Gancio later met percussionist Renmin Nadela who later became the founder of 'Agaw Agimat'. The word Yano came up while browsing the Filipino dictionary for words. It was a Bisaya (Visayan) word (meaning 'simple'), Gancio then decided that the name appropriately symbolizes the songs that have already been written, as well as the style of songwriting.

They recorded their demo at the home studio of alternative artist Joey Ayala in June 1993. They brought two of the tracks, "Kumusta Na?," ("How Are You?") a song about the "EDSA Revolution", and "Kaka," a song about the 12-hour brownout during that time, to a local radio station L.A. 105.9 where the group was first heard. This paved the way for Yano to become active in the local club circuit. Mayrics, Club Dredd, 70s Bistro were among the first clubs that Yano performed in. Drummers for the band included Nowie Favila (Ang Grupong Pendong), Nonong Timbalopez (Put3Ska, Ex President's Combo), Jun Nogoy (Coffeebreak Island) and Harley Alarcon (Rizal Underground and POT).

In 1994, the band's self-titled debut album came out, with rock songs including"Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo" ("Holy Dog, Saintly Horse"), "Tsinelas" ("Slippers") and "Esem" (wordplay for SM or Shoemart mall). This was followed by a string of successful concerts around the Philippine archipelago. Their first album from Alpha records (re-issued by BMG) reached quadruple platinum in 1994. After producing three studio albums, Abay quit during the late 1990s because of fame-induced pressure. The group later disbanded after Abay’s absence.

Yano continues

In the middle of the recording of their 3rd album 'Tara', Abay struggled with clinical depression and stayed in his bedroom for about three years.^[5] Gancio finished the album alone, singing the vocal tracks to have of the album's songs.

Abay came out of depression while writing new songs set into poetry. He and Badiang formed another band, Pan, with bassist Milo Duane Cruz and drummer Melvin Leyson. They released their debut album entitled Parnaso ng Payaso in 2003. Pan was later disbanded because Abay went back to school in University of the Philippines Diliman. He released Sampol, an EP in 2005, which was later reborn into Flipino and released in May 2006. Badiang played bass for Filipino folk/rock band Asin.

Yano in Davao

Gancio returned to his homeland in Davao after finishing the recording of the 3rd album Tara in 1998. In 2004, he released his solo album Sa Bandang Huli (At the Very End). Gancio did all the instruments in his indie-released album and mixed the music at his home in a PC-based software. In 2007, Gancio took into the band session Bassist Dave Ibao and Drummer Jan Najera. He said he would be releasing an album, which, according to Gancio, will be the "fourth Yano album" instead of his second album. Hence, in 2013, Yano released a 4th album titled Talâ (Star) under Yano Records. The band is still based in Davao City.

In September 2014, Yano released its 5th album Ya Hindi No under Yano Records. Yano has just launched it during P FEST UK on the last week of the same month in Leeds and Romford. The same year, Ronald Madarang was removed from the band and the next year, 2015, Ej Santos became the new drummer.

Music

Yano's music is a fusion of western elements into Filipino ethnic music. It is also known for their political and social themes. Their songs censure religious hypocrites like in Banal Na Aso, Santong Kabayo (Tagalog for Holy Dog, Saintly Horse), corrupt politicians in Trapo (colloquial, pejorative term for traditional politicians, also literally translates to "dust rag"), the lingo of the Philippine's elite in Coño Ka P’re ("You're a coño") and abusive capitalists in Mc’Jo (alluding to the fastfood chains McDonald's and Jollibee.

Yano’s songs also narrate the situation of Philippine society during the 1990s. Kumusta Na? ("How are you?") discusses the condition of the Filipino masses after the 1986 EDSA Revolution while the novelty-styled song Kaka tells a story of a person named Kaka, who is having difficulty in finding things in the dark after a power outage, a reference to the frequent blackouts in the Philippines during the early 1990s. The song Bawal ("prohibited") speaks about the effects of rules or laws with excessive restrictions to the point where it leads to suppression of freedom and love. Abno, also known as Abnormal Environmental, tackles the environment while Kaklase ("classmate") focuses on students facing maltreatment by their teachers. Another social relevant song, Mercy, tells about the story of a crazy peddler in the Philippines known as a taong grasa ("greasy person").

Discography

Studio albums

References