The Lord Is My Chef Sunday Music for the Soul by Fr. Nicanor F. Lalog II, 23 June 2024
We go OPM this Sunday, digging through the great decade of Pinoy rock bands of the 90’s with The Dawn’s Iisang Bangka Tayo released in 1992.
I was still outside the seminary working at GMA7-News when The Dawn rocked the local scene with their Enveloped Ideas in 1987. Unfortunately, their founder and more famous member Teddy Diaz was stabbed to death the following year on his way to visit his girlfriend in Quezon City that abruptly ended the career of a very promising musician who have unknowingly sowed the seeds for the blossoming anew of OPM with the advent of many alternative bands in the 90’s.
After leaving GMA-7 News to give my vocation a second try in the seminary, radio and music remained my two “worldly” pursuits without any plans at all of ever turning away from. And I was so glad The Dawn had continued to play music all those years while in the seminary days until I became a priest.
This is my second favorite song from them: rough and raw as they have always been with deep thoughts running through but this time in the vernacular language. What I like most with this song is its theological undertones: its calls for togetherness and unity as friends and a nation, and most of all, of communion as a church considering that is what the boat symbolizes.
The boat carrying Jesus and the disciples crossing the Lake of Galilee during a violent squall actually symbolized the Church under persecution. The Dawn’s Iisang Bangka Tayo struck the gospel chords perfectly, especially at this part midway through the song:
Dahon ng damo tangay ng hangin
At di mo matanaw kung saan ka dadalhin
Ngunit kasama mo ako nakabigkis sa puso mo
Daluyong ng dagat ang tatawirin natin
Saan ang tungo mo mahal kong kaibigan
Saan sadsadyain hanap mong katahimikan
Basta’t tayo’y magkasama laging sasabayan
Pinagsamaha’y nasa puso kaibigan kabarkada
Iangat natin ang layag sa umaawit na hangin
Kapit-bisig tayong ang gabi ay hahawiin
Ating liliparin may harang may sibat
Ating tatawirin daluyong ng dagat
Pagkat kasama mo ako iisang bangka tayo
Anuman ang mithiin ay makakamtan natin
It is the same message of oneness and trust that Jesus conveys in our gospel this Sunday who silently joins us in the boat to help us cross this sea of life amid storms and giant waves that can be overwhelming most of the time (https://lordmychef.com/2024/06/22/into-the-sea-of-life-love/). Most of all, Jesus and The Dawn’s Iisang Bangka Tayo remind us of the need for more love and trust with each other to overcome life’s many trials and sufferings. Here now are The Dawn… rak en roll!
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