If it happens in Pinamungajan–or Timbuktu, or Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland–it happens everywhere.

The task force should be handled not by policemen or NBI agents but by musicians, particularly lyricists. You call the police or the NBI when it’s about drugs, or alcohol, or guns, or Joavan Fernandez. But when it’s about videoke violence, call the songwriter. Unless our law enforcement institutions include “Lyrics as Cause of Violence” in their training, drug raids and checkpoints will never solve videoke killings.

This is Google Research I’m talking about, the most reliable source of information for very serious researchers, like college freshmen and humor columnists. My comprehensive Google research told me video killings are intimately linked to the lyrics of the song that caused the fight. Take “My Way” for example.

A dozen articles dissecting the lyrics of “My Way” crop up when you google “videoke killings.” If you think I’m making this up, here’s an excerpt: “The number of killings connected to singing of the song (My Way) may simply reflect its popularity in a violent environment…The song’s ‘triumphalist’ theme might also be a factor.”

“The lyrics of ‘My Way’ increase the violence,” the study continues. “The lyrics evoke feelings of pride and arrogance in the singer, as if you’re somebody when you’re really nobody…It covers up your failures. That’s why it leads to fights.” The typical Filipino irritates.

It makes sense. Remember the last time you went videoke-ing with your friends, and there’s this guy in the next table singing “Making Love Out of Nothing at All” with all the braggadocio he could muster and you were so damn annoyed by it? Of course you don’t blame the lyrics. “I know just how to whisper/ And I know just how to cry/ I know just where to find the answers/ And I know just how to lie” is down pat annoying but only because you hate Air Supply to begin with.

You want to blow Hitchcock and Russell and their legion of fans to smithereens, not that drunk in the next table. And we’re not talking about the Bee Gees yet.

Now, imagine that same guy screaming, “For what is a man? What has he got? If not himself–Then he has naught…The record shows I took the blows. And did it my way.” Man, that guy’s annoying!

In fairness to Sinatra, he didn’t write “My Way.” It was Paul Anka, who re-wrote it from the original French, which he described as “a bad record, but there was something in it.” That “something” is murdering videoke singers all over the country. Creepy.

The Pinamungajan incident offers an additional twist to the videoke rage phenomenon. The song is not “My Way,” thank God, but Fred Berame’s Cebuano classic “Samtang May Kinabuhi.” In the context of the videoke rage in the country, the song sounds equally creepy.

No, we won’t dissect Berame’s lyrics right now. We’re running out of space. Besides, I hear somebody singing “My Way” at the videoke bar outside, and I have a mission to fulfill. Give me that gun now.

By Insoy Niñal
Sun.Star Cebu, July 20, 2010

Matahum Nga Cebu

1st TSINELAS MUSIC VIDEO WORKSHOP
July 18 – 19, 2009
Sentro sa Katilingban Bldg.
Saint Theresa’s College
Gen. Maxilom Ave., Cebu City

Topics:

• Orientation on the tools needed
• Fundamentals of planning, shooting and editing
• Basic work flow and techniques
• Common problems and how to avoid them
• Exploring alternative technology

Registration: P2,500 — 30 PERCENT DISCOUNT FOR STUDENTS (meals, snacks, workshop kit, certificate, souvenir items, giveaways)

Facilitator:
RUEL ANTIPUESTO
Ruel Dahis Antipuesto is an award-winning photographer and filmmaker whose works have been included in various local and international competitions and exhibitions, including Portugal, UK, Germany, Korea, USA, India and France. His works have received several nominations and awards including Gawad CCP, Star Awards, FAMAS, Cinemanila and Urian. Ruel runs a marketing communications company in Cebu and does audio visual reverse engineering as a hobby over a glass of cold soda.

For reservation and more info, contact secretariat at 09228243800, 09267325355, insoymada@gmail.com

THIS IS A FUND RAISING PROJECT OF TSINELAS

(help spread the news and help tsinelas. grab poster here)

Bitaw, mahal ra ang P3,500, especially for students. So we’ve decided to make it P2,500. Mahal ra gihapon? No. it’s two days, meals, snacks, accommodation, workshop kit, and it’s RUEL ANTIPUESTO! Date is July 18 and 19. Venue is Don Bosco Retreat House in Talisay. For reservation and more info, text 09228243800, 09267325355, or email insoymada@gmail.com, or leave a note here.

We’ll be posting more details this week. Thanks.

Ruel Antipuesto shooting Missing Filemon's "Sinesine" music video

After the successful “First Tsinelas Songwriting Workshop” last May 8, 9 and 10, Tsinelas is organizing another workshop, this time on how to make a music video. The “First Tsinelas Music Video Workshop” is tentatively scheduled on the second week of July.  It will be a two-day stay-in seminar. Tsinelas will announce the venue and other details once everything is set.

To handle the workshop is Ruel Antipuesto.

Like all seminars and events organized by Tsinelas, proceeds of the music video workshop will be used to help the organization’s beneficiaries in Cebu’s mountain barangays.

The seminar will cover these five general topics: orientation on the tools needed; fundamentals of planning, shooting and editing; basic workflow and techniques; common problems and how to avoid them; and exploring alternative technology.

For reservation and more info, contact the secretariat at 0922 8243800 or 0926 7325355, or send email to insoymada@gmail.com

About Ruel:

RUEL ANTIPUESTO always wanted to study film, but since time and money never got together, he just took the plunge. He made so many mistakes along the way that he ended up teaching in a film school. He won the grand prize in the 2006 Sinulog video documentary competition, and was cinematographer on the award-winning short, Carpool. He also directed, together with Jerrold Tarog, the multi-awarded film Confessional.  (philippineartscene.blogspot.com)