Friday, September 12, 2008

Yoyoy: The Original Boholano Idol

Before we had the likes of Cesar Montano, Luke Mijares, Giselle Sanchez, no other Boholano had made such a big name in the entertainment industry than Yoyoy Villame.

Who would not have heard and laughed at the songs like Magellan, Butse Kik, Philippine Geography and Mag-exercise Tayo Tuwing Umaga? His music earned him the title as the Philippine's "King of Novelty Songs".

Born Roman Tesorio Villame on November 18, 1932, he was a native of Calape, a municipality north of Tagbilaran. It is said that he was at one time a jeepney driver here in Manila, at another time an army draftee, before he went back to Bohol to become a bus driver.

In fact, I grew up hearing stories about him from common folks. According to them, Yoyoy used to be a driver of Bohol Land which for a long time was the only bus company operating in the province.

Yoyoy never allowed his work to discourage him from his music. Instead, he formed a rondalla combo with his fellow drivers, until his bosses in the bus company took notice and formed a recording studio just for him.

Yoyoy recorded his first song, Magellan, in 1972. After so many unforgettable hits, he died on May 16, 2007 as respected singer, composer, lyricist and comedian.

Even after his death, his music lives on and will continue to bring laughter to our lives. You don't believe me? Try listening to his Yoyoy's songs here. You may also watch Yoyoy's videos here.

4 comments:

Pinoyborian said...

Bay, what happened to the video clips? I had great fun watching them here in your blog.

jigs said...

thanks for dropping by at my site using entrecard. ako pod ganahan ni yoyoy! maayo kay naa kay post nga ingun ani. proud to be Pinoy. well thanks for the visit. also take a look at my other sites. thanks

Gibo said...

bay, i took out the large embedded video because it didn't look great on the blog. sobrang laki. anyway, i added the link to yoyoy's videos on youtube at the end of the post. thanks for visiting my blog.

Pinoyborian said...

Gibo, salamat sa pagbutang sa link sa video. Happy days na sab!