Nothing will ever beat the band scene back in the 1990s. If you are a fan of the Eraserheads, Parokya ni Edgar, Razorback, Intorvoyz, Wolfgang, After Image, The Dawn, or even solo musicians like Francis M, Gary Valenciano, Martin Nievera, Nonoy Zuñiga, Basil Valdez, and Lani Misalucha, you need to buy this book, which chronicles every band and musician during the ‘90s. “Tugtugan Pamorningan” by Susan Claire Agbayani chronicles the Philippine music scene from 1990 to 1999.  

The title is befitting of the era  where both me and Agbayani would be rocking out in the audience in Club Dredd - Agbayani as the head of the  public relations of most  bands during the nineties….and me as the official and only approved “groupie”  (I did the approving as well) of my husband Emil Buencamino, who was the drummer of Aftermath (an alternative band he shared with Rommel Sanchez, now the fifth member of Eraserheads. Aftermath’s career was short-lived.) 

I asked Agbayani what her main goal was in documenting the Philippine music scene of the 1990s. “I wanted to push forward the truth that the 1990s was one of the golden ages of Philippine music or OPM. There was so much musical production and consumption during this decade or era. Hataw rin ang live music.” As a “dalagang ‘90s," I totally agree with the author!

Agbayani’s research process was long and tedious, with many challenges. Agbayani tells Gossip Girl,  “I wrote the book one story at a time, from 1990-1999. All 68 stories. More stories should be part of this collection, but we couldn't find them during the production of the book….stories that couldn't be seen because they were never digitized; some publishing firms where I wrote didn't have the vision to archive their publications; the sad fact that the internet is not forever as many of my archive stories are now lost.

I crowdsourced stories and pictures, but the villains were: anay, baha (Ondoy) and sunog. Lastly, the back and forth with the record labels took two months. I asked permission to publish album covers, sleeve jackets, and pictures. It was challenging work to chronicle everything. My advice to aspiring writers who want to document cultural history, particularly in music, is to see the big picture and see what the gaps are. What needs to be written about? Or what needs to be written about more. Doing so indirectly contributes to nation-building by investigating who we are through our culture and music history.”

Agbayani shares several personal memories, experiences, and anecdotes in the book, especially with Eraserheads, as she dedicated an entire chapter to them. I asked why dedicate a whole chapter for E-heads when in other chapters, five bands have to share a chapter in her book.  Agbayani answers, “Why not? The Eraserheads made the most significant impact on the Philippine music scene during the ‘90s.  In the preface, I explained that in 1994, record labels went on a signing frenzy in their bid to duplicate the success of Eraserheads. In early 1994, 7 songs of Eheads (from the ultraelectromagneticpop! album) were being requested and played on radio stations.

I wanted to pick Agbayani’s brain all day. Still, my editor would kill me if I hoarded all the space of Manila Bulletin for my column, so my closing question was, 'What was the most rewarding part of writing Tugtugan Pamorninga?' She answered: “The moral support the literary and academic community gave me? I did not expect such love, warmth, and support! Ricky Lee, the National Artist for Film and Broadcast Arts, wrote my foreword. How amazing is that! The support of established literary writers, professors, historians, and photographers is humbling! Some professors asked me for copies of the manuscript before the book was published because they wanted to use the contents for their classes! What was unexpected was that those who vetted the grant the book received from UP Likhaan Institute of Creative Writing (funded by the UP Diliman Chancellor's Office) recognized the importance of such a book. Also totally expected was the warm reception and patronage the book received from the reading public. The book goes out of stock in Lazada or Shopee. Those who rate it give it a 5. Talaga lang ha?!” Aside from Lazada or Shopee, Tugtugan Pamorningan is also available in the UP Press online store.