Bugsay ng Bangsi
(The Paddle of Fishing Boat)
"Bugsay ng Bangsi" (The Paddle of Fishing Boat) is reminiscent of Danny Castillones hometown, which is sandwiched between the verdant mountains and the Pacific Ocean. This track is part of "The Battle Within" album.
Excerpt from "The Road to Cateel," Sillada's hometown:
The town of Cateel in the 1970s and 1980s, as remembered by this writer, was like a forgotten paradise bereft of any infrastructure, regressive as it was since the Spaniards, the Japanese, and the Americans came: no electricity, no television, and no telephone.
During the rainy season, the muddy roads and dilapidated bridges were impassable, forcing the vacationers from the city during holidays to travel by motorboat via the Surigao route. The faint-hearted would die from a heart attack due to nervousness from the monstrous waves of the Pacific Ocean.
During summer, children would fly a kite in the middle of rice fields with whistling winds coming from the sea and the lush mountains of Cateel. Naked boys and girls, ranging from 7 to 15 years old (including this writer), would dive and swim into the crystal-clear river at barrio Tagadao, splashing their laughter amid the heat of summer.
At nightfall, it was like a ghost town with the flimsy light of suga (kerosene lamps) flickering from nipa and wooden houses. The only indulgence that the townsfolk could afford and enjoy at night, aside from gambling, was to watch the surging full moon that came only once a month.
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Danny Castillones Sillada, The road to Cateel, published in Manila Manila Bulletin, August 15, 2008 (Lifestyle: Travel & Tourism)
The town of Cateel in the 1970s and 1980s, as remembered by this writer, was like a forgotten paradise bereft of any infrastructure, regressive as it was since the Spaniards, the Japanese, and the Americans came: no electricity, no television, and no telephone.
During the rainy season, the muddy roads and dilapidated bridges were impassable, forcing the vacationers from the city during holidays to travel by motorboat via the Surigao route. The faint-hearted would die from a heart attack due to nervousness from the monstrous waves of the Pacific Ocean.
During summer, children would fly a kite in the middle of rice fields with whistling winds coming from the sea and the lush mountains of Cateel. Naked boys and girls, ranging from 7 to 15 years old (including this writer), would dive and swim into the crystal-clear river at barrio Tagadao, splashing their laughter amid the heat of summer.
At nightfall, it was like a ghost town with the flimsy light of suga (kerosene lamps) flickering from nipa and wooden houses. The only indulgence that the townsfolk could afford and enjoy at night, aside from gambling, was to watch the surging full moon that came only once a month.
___________________
Danny Castillones Sillada, The road to Cateel, published in Manila Manila Bulletin, August 15, 2008 (Lifestyle: Travel & Tourism)