Joey at Sea

Right before Christmas 2005, Joey Ayala released his latest album, entitled mga awit ng mandaragat. It has 12 cuts plus 8 minus-ones of some of the songs in the album, (Joey said he put that in for kids to be able to sing the songs in school.) The lyrics to all the 12 songs were written by Joey but he invited a number of his friends to write the music, do the musical arrangement and provide the vocals for most of the 12 cuts.
The first cut, Awit ng Mandaragat, features one of my favorite singers of all time (naks, beer naman dyan), Noel Cabangon on vocals and guitar. Noel also wrote the music for this song. Part of it goes Tinawid ng ninuno ko and karagatan/ Dumaong sa aplaya, nagtatag ng tahanan/ Umibig at inibig at nabuhay ang angkan/ Ng mandaragat/ Magmasid, magbantay/Magpayabong ng buhay/ Ito ang buhay mandaragat. Other guest composers include Joey's equally gifted sister, Cynthia Alexander. Cynthia wrote the music, did the arrangement, played the guitar and sang for Santwaryo and Dagat ay Langit. These two cuts are probably the most melodic of all the songs in the album. Mike Villegas and Bayang Barrios also collaborated on a song entitled Lason, sung by Kevin Roy.
The beautiful, colorful, turquoise-toned album cover was designed and executed by Jaku Ayala, Joey's eldest son. Joey, like a proud stage-dad, showed off the pages with a huge grin on his face saying "Gawa ni Jaku..." I could have sworn, I heard a melody in there, somewhere. He is, after all, first and foremost, a parent. To all parents and would-be parents goes the message of this album. In Joey's own words: Para sa ating mga anak -- isang buhay na dagat.