Music icon Heber Bartolome passed away on Monday evening. He was 74.
Bartolome died at the Veterans Memorial Medical Center on Monday night. The folk-rock legend had prostate problems, according to his brother Jesse Bartolome. He said Heber was with family as the singer-songwriter celebrated his 74th birthday twelve days ago, November 4.
Bartolome is best remembered for his song “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” which teaches self-worth, passed away yesterday. He put up his band Banyuhay (which means metamorphosis) with his brother Jesse and Levi after a literary magazine which he put up before Martial Law was declared in 1972. Banyuhay became popular in the 1970s with their songs about ordinary people and their hardships and struggles in everyday life. Bartolome was also a painter and poet, contributing his works to the magazine. In a previous interview with
GoodNewsPilipinas.com, Bartolome told how his signature song “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” was formed, the words and music just coming to his mind in a jiffy. “Nakatayo lang kami sa pinto sa tapat ng dormitoryo namin. Inaantay ko kapatid ko. Siya naman merong gitara. May mga inii-scale siya. Tapos nagcomment ako, ganito dapat scale. Tapos sa scale na iyon nanggaling iyong melody,” he told GoodNewsPilipinas.com.
Bartolome admitted his songs are always based on his experiences, explaining that it is difficult to create a story that you have not undergone through yourself. His song, he said, are “God-given.”
Bartolome studied at the University of the Philippines where he obtained his degree in Fine Arts in 1973. But he started his professional career in the late 1960s, singing in folk houses. While at UP, he became a member of the ROTC Band and University of the Philippines Concert Chorus. Bartolome would later teach Filipino literature at De La Salle University.
The message of self-worth of “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” caught the attention of the late Francis Magalona, who did a rap version that was included in his 1992 album “Rap Is Francism.”
One of Bartolome’s last public performances was in August at the Filipino Music Legends series “Behn Cervantes at The Roofdeck,” at Erehwon’s Center for the Arts, a warehouse turned cultural center and music hub for Pilipino artists.
The first two lines of his signature song “Tayo’y Mga Pinoy” sums up his legacy on patriotism and self-worth: “Tayo’y mga Pinoy, tayo’y hindi Kano/Huwag kang magihiya, kung ang ilong mo ay pango.”
