I first met heber in the early 90s when I went with a musician friend to visit him at his house which was then in New York st in cubao. It was also his gallery and his work area where we found him busy painting on the canvas. We discussed a few things, mostly on art, music and philosophical stuff which I am acustomed to after spending years under Ibarra dela Rosa’s class in college of Fine Arts in PWU where discussions on philosophical stuff goes on for hours.
I heard of Banyuhay ni Heber in college listening to a lot of pinoy rock. And when I got into an art organization who does stage design and visual art performances in concerts for a cause, I was able to watch the band perform several times. Notable was their performance in Quezon Memorial Circle where they had that powerful line up – brothers Heber, Levi and Jess along with drummer Flor Mendoza. I admired their songs as it was different from most pinoy rock ditties. Theirs was always about something social and political.
My visit to his pad in cubao became frequent. We later on discussed several issues about the music industry, this time in his office. At this point he was running a music label called Akasha Records and I thought I wanted to learn about how the industry works. Ka heber would then bring me to several meetings with people in the industry. Sometimes leaving me there on my own at Club Filipino, representing his company in front of CEOs and GMs of various record labels. He would also bring me to recording studios where I acted like a look out making sure that things are done right. I remember going to Abbey Road – not the studio in London, but the one in Makati. I also met a lot of his artists including one member of Mga Anak ng Tupa who made an album under his label.
My frequent stay on his office did not last long as he had to move to Banlat in Tandang Sora which was too far for my convinience. I would later on become busy with my band and we would seldom meet.
After several years, I found myself running a record label of some sort along with some muscian friends. I would later realize that it must have been Ka Heber’s ideas and our discussions which influenced me to formulate Indiepinoy, a record label for independent artists.
We would later meet again when Indiepinoy was expanding its network with organizations in the music industry and Ka Heber was organizing Malayang Ugnayan sa Industriya ng mga Komposer ng Awit or MUSIKA. We would get together to discuss issues on musicians rights and welfare. We would even go to congress and sit on a congressional hearings when musicians rights are involved. Our meetings were held either in my house in Sampaloc, Manila or in his place in Banlat, Tandang Sora. Most of our discussion now were more concrete than those we discussed before in New York st., Cubao. With the help of Skarlet we were picking up pieces of the puzzle to formulate a stronger guild that will represent the musicians and the composers. Ka Heber tried to convince me to join his group MUSIKA and give it a strong leadership but he knew I was already busy with Indiepinoy and understood my cause. So he did not really insisted as we can work together anyway. But I felt that he was building MUSIKA to be more than an organization, maybe a CMO of some sort or probably a guild. He had with him personalities in the pinoy rock scene along with a group of new breed songwriters and singers. I felt he wanted me to help him expand his group with the same extensive number of members Indiepinoy had at that time.
We did organize a few concerts including one held at the Rizal Auditorium’s Concert at the Park. This was to commemorate Bonifacio’s 150th birthday. A few more meetings were held here and there, including one organized by atty Rod Domingo, the lawyer who was able to win a class suit and recover millions for Marcos victims. This was attended by really influential personalities and the agenda was quite radical especially having in the attendance, people who had first hand experience of corruption and brutality in the music industry. Ka Heber showed me how the industry really looks like. The good and the bad.
This is how I met Ka Heber. We were both organizers and we both have visions of how the industry should work and to whom should it serve. Most people will see the genius of his songs. I see how he felt about the people who make such songs. He was ahead of me and he knows more than me. Even if I would deny it, deep inside me I know he was a big influence.
Later on I would hear several stories from different people about Ka Heber. Including that one story Emil Sanglay told me of how they had an argument with Ka Heber and he left him in the middle of the grassland. I am not the one to judge about those stories I heard. He is only human anyway.
But I will surely miss him.
